Back home
by sergeant peace
Summary: when his best friend is shot and killed on the job, Tommy decides its time to quit the Dealing business and go back to school, but there's problems to face, from the police snooping around, and friends suspicious of his involvment in recent crimes around the town, (including a murder), can tommy solve these problems before he gets himself, (and others) killed?
1. goodbye to good friends

The alarm went off and tommy sat up groaning, "Phil," Tommy said, "wake up we, gotta go work!" he looked over at Phil and heard him snoring, "Phil!" he said, then threw his boot at him, he hit him on the head.

"What the hell!" Phil said sitting up, "what?"

"Get off you're ass lets go!" he said, "We got to get to work."

"Come on, five more minutes!" Phil groaned.

"We're running late Phil!" Tommy said.

"Okay, okay I'm up!" Phil said sitting up and walking over to his closet, he opened it up and put on a shirt, "which street we going to today?"

"Ranger," he said putting on a white shirt and then his lucky Trench coat. "we got in a new batch yesterday, Rick wants us to try and sell some of it." he put on his belt, and his gun, a 45. Colt Revolver.t

"What we get?" he asked

"Cuban grass, Columbian leaves, and of course the ordinary stuff."

"Alright," Phil said putting his Boots on his boots, then putting on his belt, and buckled his gun holster to it, then put his m1911 into it, "alright lets go!"

Tommy walked out of the apartment, and into the Garage, "the Chevy, or the Ferrari?" he asked Phil.

'Chevy," Phil said, "I don't like driving the Ferrari,"

"It's a Ferrari!" he said.

"Yeah but I get the feeling everyone looks over and thinks 'how the hell did those two get a Ferrari.'"

"True," Tommy said and took out the keys for the old 1970 Chevy, "alright lets get going." He said unlocking the truck and getting in.

"Sweet." Phil said jumping into the shotgun seat.

Tommy started driving, looking around, 'quiet today," he said, "usually the construction guy's are going to work right now,'

"I think it's a holiday," Phil said,

Tommy nodded, "who we working with today?" he asked.

"Kinsley, and McAllister," he said.

Tommy nodded and put on his shades, and then he turned down the street to the Construction office. When he got there he parked the truck and got out, "lets go get the stuff" he said and walked insid.

"Tommy!" a guy behind desk said, "how you doing?"

"Pretty good Jake," he said, "me and Phil are here to get the stuff."

"Ah," he said, "I'll let Rick know you're here."

"Just send them in Jake," a voice said, " you don't need to announce that my best sellers are here."

"Sorry rick!" He said, "go on ahead guy's."

Tommy and Phil walked into the back.

"Ah Thomas, Phillip." Rick said looking up, he was a middle aged looking man, his hair was slowly turning gray, and he had Wrinkles creasing his forehead, but he was muscular, and his green eye's were lively and wicked, "today I want you two to try and sell all of this batch," he said, "we need money and this is a pretty expensive batch, I know it'll be hard to do this, since it's expensive, but I have faith in you two."

"We can do it boss," Phil said, "We always can."

"That's what I like to hear!" he said smiling, and reached under his desk, and pulled out four Tackle boxes, 'here's the stuff," he said "Grade A pure fine, Mary Jane," he said, "today since it's both of your anniversary, I want you two to take a Fifty Percent Cut,"

he nodded,

"And remember," he said, "no selling to kids under the age of 15,"

Tommy nodded, "of course, we never do,"

"Alright now get going," he said.

Tommy got two of the boxes, and Phil got the other two, they carried them to the Truck and put the boxes in the Tool box and locked it, "man," Tommy said 'sometimes I still can't believe we're in this business. I mean we're seventeen and we're working the street, "

"Yeah," Phil said, "selling pot on the corner, at least Rick only sells pot right? I mean he could be selling Heroine or some shit like that, stuff that can kill you in one hit. Pot you take one hit and you just get the munchies."

Tommy nodded, "I still remember when we first got the gig," he said, "Rick just handed us two thousand dollars each and told us to go sell,"

"Yeah, and we both were awesome at it," Phil said, "now can we stop talking about this, I'd rather not talk about it right now."

He nodded, "Lets go get Kinsley and McAllister and get to work," he said driving down the street, he pulled up to a big white house and got on his phone, "hey Kinsley, we're outside come on."

"Hold on," a female voice said, "I'm still getting dressed."

"You can come out still," he said, "we don't mind watching,"

"Sick perv," she said

Tommy smiled, out of everyone they worked with, Kinsley was by far the most fun to work with, she had been working since she had gotten out of high school, she was one of those 'I don't take crap' kinds of people, and she was fun to hang out with. "Well hurry up, we have to get to work," he said and hung up.

She came out the front, Hispanic girl with long brown hair, she had on shades and her favorite black leather jacket. She got in the back and said, "lets go,"

'Hey Megan," Phil said, "Looking good I see."

"Hey Phil," she said, "Still looking raggedy I see."

"Oh come on," he said, "I don't care what you say, I know I'm sexy,"

She rolled her eyes, "more like ugly as shit," she said.

Tommy laughed and started driving, "so how's life?" Tommy asked.

"Oh you know," she said, "chilling, selling, maybe getting high every now and then. The usual."

"Nice." Tommy said, "You know what we're selling today?"

"I know it's pretty expensive," she said, "and that it's from Cuba,"

"And from Columbia," she said, "Cuban grass, and Columbian leaves,"

"Dang that sounds pretty good," she said.

"Yeah the boss wants me and Tommy to sell it, I think you and McAllister are getting the usual."

She sighed, "Why don't they ever let us take the good stuff?"

"Cause me and tommy are so awesome," Phil said.

"Yeah sure," she said, "you two are good at selling but you aren't awesome."

'How much do you wanna bet?" Phil asked,

'Nothing, I don't like to gamble,"

"But you like to sell," Tommy said and they smiled. He pulled up to McAllister's house, the Scotsman walked over to the truck and got in, " 'bout time ye two got here," he said with a thick Scottish accent, "ah was freezing mah ass off out there."

"Sorry, we had to pick up the stuff," Tommy said, driving again, "and we had to wait for Megan to get dressed."

"Oh so you're taking off your clothes for them but no for me?" McAllister said to Megan.

"Oh grow up," she said. "They were picking me up and I had a late start,"

"Sure lass, tha's what it is." He said grinning.

She rolled her eyes.

Tommy grinned and pulled up to the corner they were selling on. "Alright guy's," he said, "at 7 we meet back here and put the money together, then take our cuts."

"Alright now stop with your talking an lets get sellin" McAllister said and got out, Megan jumped out too, Tommy got out and unlocked the Tool box and handed out the Tackle box's, he took the one labeled CL and gave Phil the one that was labeled CG, then gave Megan and McAllister, the ones marked U. "Alright guy's lets go!" Tommy said and they went there separate ways.

8 hours later.

Tommy walked back to the spot, and saw Phil already waiting, "about time," Phil said, "I've been waiting for over an hour!"

"An hour?" he asked, "you haven't been selling today?"

"Oh I sold," he said, " I was selling bits and pieces, then about an hour ago two guy's walked over and they asked for four pounds of it."

"Four pounds?" he asked unbelieving, "that's enough to last someone a month!"

"Yeah I know, the guy who bought it said that he and his friends wanted to have a good night, he wasn't an experienced buyer, you know what he did?" he asked, "guess, take your wild guess,"

"He threatened you?" he asked.

"Nope, he took out ten thousand dollars put it in my hand and said, 'we'll take it all' I could tell he was some sort of rich kid, so I told him that it was going to be another ten thousand and he just pulled it out and gave it to me."

"Man this guy's an idiot!" he said, "for one thing that stuff is expensive, but it's not that expensive, it would've cost him maybe 200 dollars, and that's the most expensive,"

"I know!" Phil said laughing, "I got 34,000 today! How about you?"

"A little smaller number," he said, "I got about 15,000 and I sold it all,"

"Let me think, we get half of everything me and you sell today, so I'll be getting 12,500 and you'll be getting, 7,500."

"That's pretty good numbers," he said, "better then the 2,000 me and you usually get,"

"Better then what I got!" Kinsley said, "I sold everything and got 10,000, and since it's not my anniversary, I'll be getting about, 2,000"

"Actually you'll be getting, 2,500." Phil said, "I mean we get a fourth of everything and a fourth of 10,000 is 2,500"

"Oh shut up phil." She said,

"Yeah shut up lad." McAllister said, walking over, 'not all of us are good at math, especially not Ms. Kinsley here."

"Oh shut it," she said, "now lets go get something to eat, I'm starving!"

Tommy nodded, "the usual place?" he asked.

"Yeah," Phil said, "I could go for a deep fried meat and bean burrito, with maybe a slushy."

"Allsup's again?" she asked, "don't you two ever eat anything else?"

"Nope," Tommy said, 'have you ever tried it?"

"No." she said.

"Then lets go get it," he said, "their awesome, I promise you, you'll like it."

"Ah got something she'll like." McAllister said, "an' she doesn't have te pay for it."

Megan punched him, "now lets go get something to eat." she said.

"Tha's not nice lass!" he said.

"Looked pretty nice to me," Phil said getting into the shotgun seat.

Megan smiled and got into the back, tommy got in and started the truck and started driving.

"So who's going to pay?" Megan asked.

"I think I'll handle this one," Phil said, "now lets get going!"

Tommy smiled and started driving, he drove down a few blocks and found an Allsup's he pulled in and everyone got out, they got their food and sat outside on one of the Tables,

Tommy and Phil sat at their own table; tommy took a bite of his Burrito and smiled, "always good." He said, "Hey Megan how's the food?" he asked,

"It's good!" she said, "I know why you two come here."

He nodded smiling, then looked at Phil, "you alright man? You haven't even taken a bite from your burrito."

"I was just thinking Tommy." He said, "we've been doing this since the end of freshman year… and to be honest I don't really like it. I mean the money's good, it's easy work, but i don't get to see my parents, I don't even get to see my sister."

"You know why we can't," Tommy said, "I wouldn't really want to have a drug raid happen in the morning when I'm eating cornflakes with my parents and my brother."

"I know," he said, "but I still miss them, and I can barely have a functioning relationship, you remember Wally?" he asked.

"Yeah," he said, "well I've gotten a few calls from her, I miss her man, I miss her, and I miss my sister and our friends,"

"I know," Tommy said, "but it's not like we can just quit."

"I know…" he said, "but I would like to have a family, I want to see my sister every day, maybe go back to school, finish high school."

He nodded, "Maybe come September we can go back to school, tell rick it isn't working out,"

"Yeah…maybe." He said. "You gotten any calls from anyone of the old gang?" he asked.

"Well, I got a text from Kimi three months ago, I never replied to it." he said, then smiled, "remember when we went to that Ranch? And had to drive those ostriches?"

He smiled, "yeah." He said, "that was some of the best day's of our lives, and we were only like in the fifth grade."

He nodded, "that was the best,"

A guy walked over, he was shaky and clammy, "h-h-hey man…" he said, "hey you got any stuff? Anything, I need to feel a little buzz. Just a little one.'

"Sorry man," he said, "we only sell pot and we already sold it all, now calm down, and let me buy you some food, you look like you need something to eat"

"D-don't lie to m-me," he said, "come on man just sell me something, I need to feel something, anything!"

He stood up, "I'm telling you, I don't have anything," he said, "Now calm down and sit down, I'll buy you a burrito."

He pulled out a gun "Don't lie to me!" he shouted and pulled the trigger 4 times, each bullet hitting Phil in the chest, Phil fell to the ground, he fell to his knee's then down on his back.

'PHIL!" Tommy shouted and pulled out his revolver, shooting the man in the chest, then ran over to Phil, "oh god, oh my god!" he said tears streaming down his face, "Phil!"

Megan ran over, "we have to get him to the hospital," she shouted.

McAllister jogged over to tommy, "come on lad, we have to get him to the hospital!" he said.

Tommy started to pick him up, 'Help me!" he shouted, and McAllister got on the other side of Phil and they got him to the truck, they put him in the back. Tommy got in and fumbled with the key's he got them in and started the truck,

"Son of a bitch shot me." Phil mumbled, the groaned in pain,

"Don't worry man you're going to be alright!" tommy said, and started driving, he had the gas pedal floored,

Phil groaned again louder,

"He's not looking to good tommy!" Megan shouted, "There's blood everywhere,"

"Find something to try and stop the bleeding!" he shouted,

Megan looked around and found an old shirt; she put it on his chest and put pressure on it.

Phil screamed in pain.

"I'm so sorry Phil!" she said, "tommy the bleedings not stopping!" she shouted.

"Just keep pushing down!" he said.

Phil screamed again.

"It's hurting him!" she shouted,

'I know it's supposed to do that!" he said, "Just keep holding it down!" he did a hard turn.

Phil groaned in pain this time at having to hit the side,

"Sorry buddy!" he said, and saw the hospital insight, "we're almost there!" he said, "almost there,"

He pulled into the hospital and got out, Megan threw open the door and pulled Phil out, Tommy got on the other side of him, and together they got him inside, "Help!" Tommy shouted, "We need help!"

A doctor ran over, "what happened?"

"Some crazy guy pulled out a gun and shot him!" Tommy said.

The doctor looked at the wounds, 'the bullets looked like they got straight through," he said, as a team of nurses pushed a cot towards them, they got Phil on it and pushed it towards the ER.

Tommy stood there breathing hard; he sat down and put his face in his hands, tears still streaming down. 'Oh my god!" he sobbed.

A few hours later.

Tommy was still sitting in the same chair, he was looking at the ground when a doctor walked over, "son," he said, " the police are here and they want to talk to you."

"I'm not leaving until I know my friends going to be alright," he said, "how's he doing?'

"We're still working on him," he said, "one of the bullets didn't go all the way through, we're trying to take it out, now the police need to talk to you."

He sighed and stood up as two policeman walked over, "my name is detective Sloan, this is detective Fisher," one of them said, "Would you like to tell us what happened tonight?"

Tommy nodded and started telling them, he said they were working for a construction company as security guards (explaining the guns) and they had stopped at Allsup's to get burrito's after their shift, when a guy came up stuttering about something, "he kept saying he needed to feel something," Tommy said, "thought Phil had what he needed,"

"Hmm, sounds like a heroine addict," one of the detectives said, "continue."

"Well Phil kept telling the guy that he didn't have anything, after the third time the guy pulled out the gun and said 'don't lie to me' and pulled the trigger,"

'And that's when you reacted," the detective said.

"Yes sir." Tommy said, "as soon as I saw Phil get shot I pulled out my gun and fired on the man."

He nodded, "can I have your name and the name of your partner?"

"My name's Tommy Pickles," he said, "my friend is Phil Deville."

He nodded, "do you have any contact with his parents, seeing as you two are legally minors?"

"We dropped out of school two years ago," Tommy said, "we were failing and we wanted to start working, but I do have his parents number,"

"Could you give it to us so we can contact them?" he asked.

After three hours the sliding doors opened and Lil ran in, "tommy!" she said running over to him, tears streaming down her face, "I came as soon as I heard, what the hell happened?"

"We were eating at Allsup's," he said, "guy kept asking Phil for something, when Phil didn't give it to him he shot him."

Oh my god," Lil whispered covering her mouth as her parents ran in.

"Who's here for Phil Deville?" the doctor asked walking out.

"We are!" his parents said walking over, 'is he going to be alright?"

"He's suffered a lot of trauma, and lost a lot of blood," the doctor said, 'we're not too certain he'll pull through,"

Lil sobbed,

"Are you tommy pickles?" the Doctor asked Tommy.

"Yeah." He said

"he was asking for you, I'm going to let his family go in first, but afterwards you can go in and talk to him."

Tommy nodded and sat back down as the Deville's walked into the ICU, Tommy sat there reflecting on his life for the past two years, and all he and Phil had been through, "come on Phil," he muttered, "you gotta pull through."

After thirty minutes the Deville's walked out and the doctor motioned for tommy to come,

Tommy stood up and walked into the ICU, he went into Phil's room and saw him hooked up to a bunch of machines. Phil looked up and smiled weakly, "hey man." He murmured, "How's it going?"

Tommy walked over, "It's…it's good man" he said, "I talked to the doctor, he said you'll be alright."

Phil gave a dry chuckle, "Don't lie to me man," he said softly, "I knew what was going on when Lil walked in here still crying, I'm done for,"

"No you're not," Tommy said, trying not to start crying, "the doc said you had a chance,"

"Tommy," Phil said softly, "stop lying, I know I'm done for, I can feel it in my gut, I knew I would go out, I just didn't think it would be like this. I'm glad I got to see my family though."

"Phil…" Tommy started but Phil cut him off, "It's too late for me man, we both made some stupid decision's, and now I'm paying for it, don't end up like me Tommy, get out of the trade, go back home and do what you gotta do."

"Phil, you're not done for!" Tommy said tears starting to come out, "there's still a chance,"

Phil shook his head, "i thought I said stop lying," he said softly, "now, here's what you're going to do, you're going back home, gonna enroll in school, get you're degree and go to college, maybe get married, that depends on you, alright? I don't want you to be out on the streets anymore," he let out a long breath, "I don't want you to be lying in a bed like me, having your family come in here telling you how it's gonna be alright, even when you know it's over. Promise me, you'll try,"

"Phil…I…"

"Promise me!" he said a little more forcefully.

"I promise," he said

"Good…" Phil said, his eyes' going out of Focus, "Good…" his head fell back, and the heart monitor flat lined,

"Phil…PHIL!" Tommy said shaking him, "come on Phil quit playing around! PHILE WAKE UP!" tommy screamed tears streaming down his cheeks, "PHIL! QUIT MESSING AROUND! OPEN YOUR EYES!"

Three doctors ran in, hearing the screaming, two of them took Tommy by the arm, trying to soothe him, "PHIL!" Tommy shouted, tears streaming down his face, 'WAKE UP! COME ON MAN WAKE UP! DON'T LEAVE LIKE THIS MAN, DON'T LEAVE LIKE THIS!"

The doctors dragged him out of the ICU, still trying to calm him down, "GET OFF OF ME!" Tommy shouted pushing off the doctors, " get off of me," he sobbed falling into a seat and putting his hands to his head,

Lil saw Tommy crying and ran into Phil's room, she saw the doctors putting the blanket over Phil's head, "no…" she whispered, "NO!" she sobbed and ran out, her mother wrapped her in a hug, "WHY DID HE HAVE LEAVE!" she sobbed, "WHY DID HE HAVE TO LEAVE?"

Two day's later Phil's Funeral was held, tommy sat in the back, not speaking or talking to anyone, at his grave side, Tommy stood up and gave a small speech, "Phil Deville, he was one of the crazy one's, always happy, always a good friend… if he saw you were sad, or mad, he would try to bring your spirits up, if you were in trouble, he would have you're back, he was Blissfully unaware of peoples shortcomings, of their faults, he died, trying to help a man, trying to help the man who shot him…" Tommy stopped, close to tears, "he was a good man. He was like a brother to me," he looked at the coffin, "rest in peace buddy, when I go I hope I found you rocking it up there." He stepped off and walked to car, crying,

"You all right?" he heard someone asked.

"I'm…I'm fine," he said whipping the tears away, and turned around to see who it was he was talking to, "K-Kimi…" he said.

"It's alright to cry," Kimi said, "We'll all miss him."

"I know…it's just…it's just so hard to believe," Tommy said, "I mean…I was right there…right there when it happened… if I had just been a little faster…"

"Tommy, don't blame yourself," she said.

"But it is my fault," he said, "If I hadn't convinced him to do those stupid runs with me freshman year, he wouldn't have been with me that night, and he would still be alive."

"Tommy," Kimi said, "it's not your fault!"

Tommy sighed and leaned against the car.

She leaned against it beside him, "so…what are you gonna do now?" she asked changing the subject, "are you gonna stay in the game?"

Tommy shook his head, "No, I promised Phil I wouldn't get back in."

"Then what will you do?" she asked.

"I'm gonna go back home," he said, "and get back to school."

Kimi nodded, "well I gotta go Tommy," she said, then kissed his cheek, "I'll see you later." And with that she left.

Tommy sighed and walked back to Phil's grave, most everyone had already left, he looked around then took out a six pack of Budlight, "six for the road," he said, 'got you you're favorite," he put it beside his gravestone, "I promise bro, I'll straighten out my life," he pointed two fingers to the sky, "I'll do it for you man!" he said, as it started to rain, he turned around and went to the old truck, and got in, "gotta talk to rick," he muttered and drove away, going towards the downtown construction zone.


	2. i gotta go back to school

Chapter 2

Tommy walked into Rick's office, "hey boss," tommy said.

'ah Tommy," he said, "I've been meaning to talk to you."

"so have I." Tommy said, looking at his boss, his shoulders were sagged and the usual joviality in his eyes was gone.

"Tommy, I'm sorry what happened to Phil," he said, "he was a good man, and a hard worker." He looked at Tommy, "It's a sad time when someone like that has something like this happen to him…" he sighed and stood up and walked to the window, "when something like this happens I wonder why I still do this job, sending out people to sell Pot, always's having to watch out for the cops, scared that one of your Dealers won't come back…" he shook his head, "I guess old habits die hard." He muttered, then turned to Tommy, "I know why you're here Tommy, the same reason Megan was here this morning, you both want to leave the business."

Tommy looked at him Surprised, "how did you know?" he asked.

"something like this has happened before," he said, "only last time it was a shoot out between them and rival drug dealers, lost four good men that day, and another three who quit." He looked at him, "Is there any way I could change your mind into staying?"

"sorry rick," Tommy said, "but I don't want to put my family to get a call saying I was shot dealing pot downtown."

He nodded, "I understand," he said, then walked over, "you're a good man Tommy," he said, 'hope you find your way, and if you ever need anything, anything at all, just call."

"thanks Rick," he said shaking his hand, "I'll see you around." And walked away.

Rick sat down and sighed, "Three dealers gone," he muttered, "maybe it is time to stop."

Tommy walked upstairs to his apartment, he went in and gathered his stuff, packing it all up for the trip home, he tried to stay away from Phil's side of the room, he walked into the closet and started packing things up, he picked up a pair of pants and a wallet fell out, he looked at it then knelt down and picked it up, he opened it up and saw Phil's ID, "He lost this a year ago," he said, looking at it, he got tears in his eye's seeing Phil's picture, "damn it," he muttered wiping away the tears, "get yourself together Pickles." He put the wallet in a box with some more of Phil's stuff and carried it downstairs to his truck, he sat in the drivers side for a while, thinking about how he was going to explain his absence to his parents, he hadn't talked to them since the fourth of July the previous year, and then they hadn't left on very good terms, he hadn't even seen them at Phil's Funeral. "Screw it," he muttered, 'I have to face them sometime." He started the car and started the long trip to his home town.

Four hours later.

Tommy drove through his old neighborhood, he looked at the houses, none of them had changed. He saw his house and pulled into the driveway.

Didi looked outside and saw a truck pull up, "whose truck is that?" she muttered, then saw Tommy open the drivers' side and get out, "Tommy?" she said shocked, she opened the front door and walked out, "Tommy…is that really you?" she asked.

"h-hi mom," Tommy said,

"Y-your back…why are you back?" she asked.

"have you not heard?" he asked,

"heard what?" she said confused,

"P…Phil died, four day's ago," he said.

Didi looked surprised, "But… Betty didn't even tell us!" she said.

Tommy stood there watching his mother.

"Come in side," she said, ushering him inside.

Tommy looked around, everything was almost exactly as he left it,

"now your father's downstairs," she said, "I'll go get him, and we'll sit down and talk about…this…" she walked out and went downstairs,

Tommy walked into the living room, he looked at all the pictures put up, he realized most of the ones that had him in them were gone.

"T…is that you?" he heard a voice behind him say, he turned around and saw Dil, "yeah little bro…it's me." He said, looking at his brother, his hair was long, longer then he remembered, he was wearing the Sherpa he always wore, but he was dressed more or less like a normal teenager.

"I…I didn't think you would come back," he said walking towards him,

"I know," he said, feeling a lump in his throat. "And I'm sorry,"

Dil looked at him, then put his arms around him in a hug, Tommy hugged him, both of them were crying a little, "I'm sorry dil," he whispered, "I'm so sorry."

Didi and Stu walked in, "Dil," Stu said, "go to your room,"

"but…but…" Dil said letting go of tommy and looking at them,

"Go to your room," Stu growled a little. Dil sighed and walked away.

Tommy looked at his dad.

"Hello tommy," he said no warmth in his voice.

'hey dad." He said, "how's it been?" he asked,

"it's been good Tommy," he said stiffly, "I like your beard…"

"yeah, I sorta forget to shave every now and then," he sai, absentmindedly scratching his jaw.

"So…why'd you come back?" his father asked.

"well, after Phil died I decided I needed to get my life in order." He mumbled.

Stu showed no surprise that Phil was dead, "and what you thought we would just let you stay?" he asked laughing a little. "I'd rather shoot myself then let some pot dealer into my house!"

"I'm not in the business anymore," he muttered.

"I doubt that tommy," he said vehemently.

"Stu," Didi pleaded, "Please just let him stay."

Stu looked at him, "I don't want to take chances," he growled, " this little hoodlum could be putting this entire family into jeopardy."

"if I was in trouble I wouldn't come back!" tommy shouted, "why the hell would I do that?"

Stu glared at him.

"Please Stu!" Didi said, "he's our son.'

Stu sighed, "alright…alright fine," he looked at him, "you can stay. But one step out of line and your ass is out of here."

"yes sir." Tommy said staring his father in the eye.

Stu walked back downstairs,

"I'll get Dil to help you bring everything in," Didi exclaimed happily, going up the stairs,

once dil got downstairs, Tommy and him went to his truck and started taking stuff out, "So…what's it like?" Dil asked.

"what's what like?" Tommy asked picking up a box.

"you know…working the street."

Tommy sighed, "don't ever get into it Dil." He muttered, "it's not worth the trouble,"

"alright…I was just asking, cause…well you've been at it for two years…and I'm the same age you were when you joined the business…"

"Dil," Tommy interrupted, "don't ever join the business, it got one of my friends killed and nearly killed me," he looked at him, "this is the last time I want to here about it alright?"

'yeah…alright T." Dil muttered and took the box inside.

Tommy sighed and followed him up to his old room, he put the box down,

Dil looked in the box and saw tommy's revolver, "what's that for?" he asked.

Tommy looked at it, "protection.' He said.

'Oh…" Dil looked at it, "Cool."

'If you want," Tommy said, "I can take you out to a shooting range, teach you how to shoot."

"Really?" Dil asked astonished, "that would be AWESOME!"

Tommy smiled, "next time your free," he said "I'll take you."

"Awesome!" Dil said and went downstairs.

"don't tell mom or dad!" he called after him.

(two day's later)

Tommy drove towards the school, nervously tapping the wheel.

"T, calm down bro." Dil said, "no one will do anything."

"I've been gone for two years, and when I finally come back, my best friend is dead." Tommy said nervously, "they'll do something."

"yeah…try not to over think it." Dil said.

Tommy pulled up into the Parking lot and got out, Dil got out and they walked together into the hall, as soon as the doors opened Tommy felt everyone look over and just stare at him.

"don't sweat T,' Dil muttered to him, "these guy's always do this."

"I doubt that Dil." Tommy whispered back, and started walking in.

Kimi walked over, 'Hey tommy." She said smiling, 'how are you?"

"I'm fine," he said feeling his spirits lift at seeing her, "it's just weird to see all these people…"

she nodded, "well don't freak out," she said, "It's just your first day. And it just barely started."

Tommy nodded and took a deep breath.

'If it makes you feel better," she said smiling, "I got your Schedule for you, and we have almost all the same classes together!"

"that's great!" he exclaimed, maybe today wouldn't be as bad as he thought,


	3. Dates and jail

Tommy walked into class looking around, "excuse me," the teacher said, "do you need something?"

"Uh yeah," tommy said, "I'm supposed to be in this class," he said handing her his schedule.

"Oh," she said looking at it, "well you can sit in the back, what's your name?"

"Tommy, Tommy Pickles." He said.

"Well welcome to our class Mr. Pickles," she said and Tommy walked to the back and sat down.

"Psst," he heard someone beside him say, "hey you look a little too old to be here.

Tommy looked to the kid beside him he had long shaggy blonde hair, and looked more like an 8th grader then a junior, "you look a little too young to be in this class." Tommy whispered back.

He smiled, "technically I'm supposed to be in the ninth grade, but I was a little too advanced for that. My name's Stiles," he said holding his hand out to Tommy

Tommy nodded, "Tommy," he said shaking his hand.

"So, you new to this place?" Stiles asked.

"No…" Tommy said, "I've lived here my whole life."

"But…" Stiles started confused,

"I dropped out the end of freshman year," Tommy said.

"Oh…so you're a dumbass?"

He shook his head, "no I'm not, and I got a job offer that I couldn't refuse."

"…Were you a Pimp?"

"No" he said smiling. "I'll let you guess for now."

"Mr. pickles," The teacher shouted, "would you like to share your conversation with the rest of the class."

"Not really," he said, 'kinda private, but thanks for asking."

The Teacher shook her head, and went back to teaching.

Stiles shook his head, "I'm not going to be able to get it," he whispered.

Tommy shook his head and started taking notes.

After class Tommy walked out with Stiles walking beside him, "Were you a truck driver?"

"No," Tommy said.

"Were you a cop."

"Here's the hint," he said, "I wouldn't want to see a cop during work."

"Were you a bank robber?" he asked,

"Hell no," Tommy said, "too hard."

Kimi walked over, "hey Tommy," she said, "Who is this?"

"This is Stiles," he said, "he's trying to figure out what I did before coming back."

"Has he gotten close?" Kimi asked.

"Not even close." Tommy said.

"Were you a Coast guard member?" Stiles asked.

"No," Tommy said.

"Alright I give up," Stiles said, "lets just go eat." Tommy smiled a little and the three started walking towards the lunchroom. "So Kimi, you knew Tommy before he left?"

"Yeah," Kimi said, "we were…we were pretty close back then." She looked over at Tommy and blushed a little, tommy smiled at her.

"Yeah…so can you tell me what he did for two years?"

'Nope I'm not telling you," she said smiling a little. "You have to guess it yourself."

Tommy smiled as they walked into the Lunchroom and got in line. He and Kimi were talking when three guy's walked over to Stiles, "sup freak," one said hitting the bag he was holding out of his hand,

"Come on Scott, quit your shit." He said picking up his bag, Scott hit the bag down, "you got a fee to pay Freak."

"I don't have any money,' Stiles said,

"You're lying," Scott said, pushing him against the wall.

"I'm not lying!" Stiles shouted.

"Raising your voice," he said, "you just earned yourself a free knuckle sandwich." He threw a punch,

Tommy stopped the punch, "leave him alone," he said pushing him away.

"Who the hell are you!" Scott shouted,

"I'm the one that'll kick your ass if you don't shut the hell up and leave." Tommy said, turning back to talk to Kimi,

Scott growled, "Hey man," One of his friends said grabbing his arm, "don't mess with him, you know the rumors"

Scott glared at tommy and nodded, and the three walked away.

"What rumors?" he asked, looking at Kimi.

"You don't wanna know Tommy," Kimi said,

"What are the rumors?" he asked again.

She sighed, "The rumors are you killed Phil." She said, "I've tried to correct them, but I know you don't want them to know what you did before, so it's hard."

"They think I killed Phil…" he muttered, "Maybe they're right…I was the one who made him join the business."

"Tommy it wasn't your fault," Kimi said, "You couldn't have controlled what was going to happen."

Tommy sighed, "I know."

Stiles listened, "I don't think I want to know what you used to do now." He said, "but thanks for the help against Scott."

Tommy nodded, "anytime Stiles, I mean what are friends for?"

"Yeah,' Stiles nodded grinning and went to get lunch.

"So Tommy," Kimi said, "you doing anything tonight?"

"Nope," he said looking at her, "unless your free."

Kimi blushed, "well I was going to see if you wanted to go watch a movie." She said putting some of her hair behind her ear,

He smiled, "I'll go with you," he said.

She smiled, "that sounds good." she said, and got her tray and went to go sit with Lil, 'hey Lil," she said, "How're you doing?"

"I'm doing good." Lil said quietly, picking at the food on her tray,

"You sure?" Kimi asked.

"I'm sure Kimi," she muttered,

"Alright, remember you can come talk to me any time."

She nodded and looked back down at her food.

Stiles was looking at Lil, "wow," he muttered.

"What are you looking at?" Tommy asked, stopping beside him.

"Oh…uh… I was looking at the TV." He said.

"Oh really?" Tommy asked,

"Yeah…the TV… it's a nice looking TV…" he said, "nice TV…with brown hair and a bang dyed red…"

Tommy shook his head, "don't try man," he said, "she's not going to want to be dating any time soon."

"Yeah…but that doesn't mean I can't admire her.' He said,

Tommy shook his head, "just finish eating," he said, "class starts in fifteen minutes."

After school Tommy went into the parking lot and went over to Kimi, "how you doing Kimi Cub?" he asked.

She rolled her eye's at the nickname, "I'm good Tommy," she said, "So are we going to the movies?"

"You know it." Tommy said, "my truck or your car?"

"Lets take your Truck," she said and walked over to the old Chevy,

Tommy opened the door for her, "your chariot my lady," he said giving her a bow.

"Your so weird," she giggled getting in,

"It took you seventeen years to figure that out?" Tommy asked getting into the Drivers seat.

"Oh no I've known," she said, "I was just reminding you."

Tommy smiled and started driving, "so what do you want to go see?" he asked.

Kimi thought about it, "how about the Purge?" she asked.

"Sounds pretty good," he said, "I heard it's a good movie." he turned into the movie theatre parking lot and parked the car. "We're here." He said.

Kimi got out and put her bag in the back, "lets go." She said smiling.

Tommy smiled and walked besides her, lacing his fingers with hers.

"So, for the two years you were gone, did you ever hook up with anyone?" Kimi asked.

"Nope, not even once," Tommy said.

"Weren't there any girls out there?" Kimi asked.

Tommy stopped her and pulled her close to him, he leaned down until he was face to face with her, "there were plenty of girls, but there's only one girl for me." He murmured.

Kimi looked at him blushing, "oh really…" she whispered, "I seem to remember you going after more then one girl before you left."

"You still believe the rumors they told you? Kimi you were the only girl I ever wanted to be with." He said to her, and then kissed her.

Kimi leaned into the kiss as Tommy put his arms around her, she broke the kiss and looked at him, 'my parents won't be home until tomorrow." She whispered to him,

"So you don't want to watch the movie?" he asked softly,

"Screw the movie," she said, "lets just get out of here."

Tommy smiled and picked her up and carried her to the truck, he put her in and got into the driver side and drove to her house, he pulled into the driveway and turned off the truck, he ran around to the passenger side and opened it and picked up Kimi again, he went to the front door and kicked the door open, and went in, closing the door with his foot, he went upstairs to Kimi's room and laid her on the bed. Kimi laughed, "I could've walked up here." She said.

"Yeah, but it's more fun to carry you up here," he said and kissed her putting his hands on her hips,

Kimi put her arms around his neck.

Tommy kept kissing Kimi, moving down to her neck, his hands slowly traveling up her shirt,

"Tommy…" she whispered, pressing her body into him,

Tommy picked her up, kissing down her neck and to her Collarbone; he put his hands to the edges of Kimi's shirt and took it off.

Kimi ran her hands through his hair, then reached down the edge of his shirt and took it off.

There was a knock downstairs,

"What's that…" Kimi muttered.

"I'm sure it's nothing." Tommy said.

The knock sounded again,

Tommy sighed, "We'll finish this in a second," he said to her and stood up, picking up his shirt, he walked downstairs and opened the door, a cop stood in the doorway.

"Tommy Pickles?" he asked.

"Yeah?" Tommy, said, his shirt still in his hands.

"Your under arrest for the disappearance of Lillian Deville," the cop said turning him around and putting the handcuffs on him, "you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you."

"What the hell!" Tommy shouted, "I didn't do anything!

"Tommy? What's going on!" Kimi said running downstairs, a sweater on.

"I don't know Kimi," tommy said as the cop dragged him away, "call my parents, maybe they'll help."

The cop dragged him to the cop car and threw him in the back, he slammed the door and got into the Drivers side and drove away.

Tommy sat in the back, he struggled to reach his back pocket, and finally got a hand into it, he pulled out a Paper clip, he bent it and put it into the lock of the handcuffs and picked the lock, he got his hands out and put on his shirt.

The cop looked back and saw tommy take his cuffs off, slammed on the break and got out, he opened the door and pulled tommy out, he slammed his knee into tommy's stomach, then kicked him in the face, "take off your cuffs again, it's not going to look to good for you," he growled putting the handcuffs back on Tommy and throwing the paper clip away.

"That's police brutality," Tommy groaned.

"No one's going to believe you," he growled throwing Tommy back into the cop car.

Tommy sat in the Holding cell, a large bruise on the left side of his face, "Pickles," one of the cops said, "you have one phone call," the cop opened the door.

Tommy walked to the phone and dialed a number,

"Hello?" Kimi said.

"Kimi it's me," Tommy said, "Have you gotten a hold of my parents?"

"…Yes..." she said, "but your dad said he wasn't bailing you out,"

Tommy sighed, "of course he wouldn't…" he muttered,

"But I called Chuckie, and he's on his way to the Police Office he told me to remind you that you have the right to remain silent, so don't say anything that'll get you in trouble."

"Thanks Kimi," he said softly, "I promise I'll make it up to you."

"Anytime Tommy," Kimi said, "I'll see you when you get out."

"Alright Kimi thanks," Tommy said, he hesitated and started to talk again, but he heard the line go dead and sighed, he put the phone on the hook and the cop escorted him to the interrogation room.

Tommy sat down as two detectives walked in, "Tommy Pickles," one said, "your records pretty clean, until now at least."

"I didn't do anything," tommy said, looking at the detective.

"We have two Anonymous tips that you were involved in the kidnapping of Lillian Deville," the Detective said.

"Why would I want to kidnap her." Tommy said looking at him.

"We don't know, how about you tell us?" he asked, "she disappeared right after Lunch, no calls to her mother, she didn't tell anyone where she went, and the only person who was unaccounted for at school was you, there was a forty five minute period in which you were gone."

"I took an extended Lunch," he said, "went home, gathered a few things for my next class."

"Not many kids get to do that," the detective said, "skipping school is a pretty good offence,"

"I didn't skip school I had a free period." Tommy said. "You can look at my schedule."

"Does anyone else know that you left school?"

"The ladies at the front office, and Stiles." Tommy said.

"Well, we'll check on that, but your still a prime suspect.''

"Is he?" a voice said and the door opened and a man in a suit walked in, his red hair was lying flat and his glass reflected the light, "I think I have some things that would prove this man is not a suspect, and this crime, isn't even a crime,"

"And who are you?" The Detective asked.

"Charles Finster," he said, "I am Mr. Pickles Lawyer, now what was the first thing you detectives did when you found out the person in question was missing?"

"Well, we sent out search parties, tried to find her."

"Mhmm… and did you not, oh I don't know phone some friends, see if she was with them, or maybe ask for the spots she usually hung out at?"

"Well…no… but we had a tip that it was a Kidnapping.'

"Oh I see, and as soon as you got the tip, you sent a Cop to Mr. Pickle and had him arrested? With no proof that he was the Kidnapper other then two anonymous tips?"

"Well…"

"And from the looks of Mr. Pickles it seems like that cop might have not only arrested him, but ruffed him up pretty good."

"He was trying to escape!"

"I was not!" Tommy spoke up, "he arrested me with my shirt off, I picked the lock to put my shirt back on. Then that stupid cop pulled me out, hit me in my stomach and kicked me in my face, then threw me back in."

Chuckie nodded, 'is this how the law works around here now?"

"Of course not." The detective said defensively.

"Alright then, well as soon as I got the call that my client was in jail, I took the liberty of Calling Ms. Deville."

"She wouldn't answer anyone before, and how did you even get her number?"

"Because she didn't want to talk to anyone before, and I'm an old friend of hers." He said, "now when I called her, I found out she had gone to a shack me and a few others had made when we were younger, kind of a get away from our parents, a club house if you will, as soon as she found out that you were looking for her, she came back."

"How do we know your not lying, Mr. Finster?"

Chuckie smiled, "Lil would you please come in?"

Lil walked in, her face red with embarrassment, 'he's telling the truth," she said, "I went through the office and told them I was leaving for the day, I didn't really think I was going to get anyone riled up."

The detective looked at her and sighed, "Johnson," he said to the detective beside him, "find out who sent those Tips, I want them questioned, Mr. Pickles, sorry for this, your free to go." The detective walked over and undid his handcuffs.

Tommy nodded to him and stood up.

"Well my work here is done," Chuckie said standing up and nodding to the two detectives, "gentlemen." And with that he Lil and Tommy walked out.

"Thanks for saving my ass back there Chuckie," tommy said.

"Anything to get away from the Essay I had to write," Chuckie said Grinning. "And it's also good to see you again Tommy,"

He nodded then looked at Lil, "you alright Lil?"

"Yeah…sorry for getting you arrested Tommy," she said, "I really didn't think anyone would really care if I didn't show up to classes."

"It's alright Lil," he said, "it's not the first time I've been thrown in the back of a cop car, and judging from this, it probably won't be the last."

Chuckie nodded, "so how about lets Phone Kimi up and go get some food, I'm hungry."

Tommy chuckled, "yeah sure, I just gotta drop by your house real quick."

"Wha…my house? Why?"

"My trucks there, and so is my trench coat."

"What were you…you know what, I don't even want to know." Chuckie said going towards a black Mercedes, "hop in," he said getting into the Car, "hey Lil meet us at the Diner!"

"Alright," Lil said, getting into her silver Prius, and driving away,

Tommy started getting into the Mercedes' when he heard someone shout his name, "TOMMY!" Stiles shouted running over, "I came…as soon…as I heard…" he said breathless. "I came…to bail you out…"

"Good job Stiles," tommy said, " you didn't even have to say anything to the police and I'm already out."

Stiles looked at him then at the police station, "oh right…hey could I get a ride… I sort of ran over here."

He smiled, "hey Chuckie do we have room for one more?"

"Yeah," he said.

"Hop in Stiles, we're gonna get a quick bite to eat first." Tommy said,

"Cool," Stiles said getting in, "so…who are y'all meeting there?"

"Kimi and Lil," Tommy said,

"cool…wait did you say Lil?"


	4. The Diner, and the Deal

Tommy walked into the Diner, Stiles beside him, "so…what do I say to her?" he asked.

"Say to whom?" he asked.

"Lil!" he muttered, "like… do I just act casual? Or do I try to act cool, unzip my jacket or zip it up."

"How about you just, act like yourself." Tommy said, "we're not here to pick up girls, we're here to eat, talk with friends, and then I'll drop you off at your house."

"Alright fine." Stiles said.

"Yo Tommy!" Chuckie shouted from where he was sitting, "come on over!"

Tommy and Stiles walked over to the booth, Lil was sitting at the end, she wasn't really paying attention, she was looking at the floor, lost in her own world. Kimi sat besides her, trying to talk to her but Lil was not listening.

"Hey guy's." Tommy said walking over, "how's it going.'

"It's going good," Kimi said, "how's prison?"

"Eh can't complain, everyone was mostly past out drunk, or muttering to themselves in the corner."

"Hey guy's." Stiles said leaning against a table. "How's it going." The table fell from under him and he hit the ground the contents of the table spilling on him.

Lil saw this and giggled,

Stiles tried to get up and slipped on some Spaghetti.

Lil started laughing.

Stiles finally stood up and dusted himself off. He looked at Lil and smiled.

Lil smiled back still giggling.

"For those of you who don't know him, this klutzy guy is Stiles." Tommy said.

"Yeah I met him earlier today," Kimi said, Chuckie shook Stiles hand and introduced himself.

"We've met before." Lil said.

Stiles nodded, and sat down. A waiter walked over and put Menu's down in front of them, he put drinks in front of Chuckie, Kimi and Lil, he turned to Tommy and Stiles. "What would you two like?"

"I'll take a coke." Stiles said.

"What about you sir?" he asked tommy.

"I'll take a scotch on the rocks." He said.

"And can I see your ID?"

Tommy pulled out his ID and gave it to the waiter, the waiter looked at it then gave it back, "I'll be right back with your drinks." He said and walked away.

"Tommy Pickles, you drink?" Chuckie said.

'Yeah, when I was in the City, my boss gave me a fake ID, you know so the cops wouldn't throw me in Jail, and I decided one night to try some of the drinks I've heard about, I'm quit fond of Scotch now, especially one old enough to buy it's own scotch."

Chuckie nodded, "sounds good." He said leaning back and taking a big gulp of his sprite.

Stiles looked at Tommy, "Fake ID so you wouldn't be thrown in Jail…" Stiles muttered, "I'm starting to figure out what you did for a living."

"You don't know?" Lil asked, then said very quietly, "he used to Deal."

"No way!" Stiles said disbelievingly.

"Well the cats out of the bag now." Tommy muttered.

"Sorry Tommy," Lil said sheepishly.

"So you were like…selling crack on the corner?" Stiles asked quietly.

"No, it was Marijuana." Tommy whispered softly to him, "and could you please not tell anyone? I'm trying to not go back to that life."

"No problem man, I'm like a safe, I won't let anyone know." Stiles said.

The waiter walked over and put the drinks in front of them; Tommy took a drink of his scotch, 'that's good." He said putting the glass down, "so how've you been Chuckie? Haven't seen you in a while, how's law school?"

"Boring," Chuckie said, "I've been there for a year now, and everyone over there is a stick in the mud, I miss the old days where we got together and did something stupid."

Tommy nodded, "it always seemed easier when we were younger." He said.

Lil nodded and drank her tea.

"So Lil," Tommy said, "how are you holding up?"

Lil looked up, "oh…I'm…I'm doing fine." She said shortly looking down into her drink.

Tommy nodded.

"So Tommy." Chuckie said, "how does it feel to be away from the…business?" he asked.

"It feels good," Tommy, said, "It feels very…weight lifting, I mean I don't have to worry about someone trying to kill me."

"Did Phil feel like that?" Lil asked. Causing everyone to stop talking.

"W-what?" Tommy stuttered.

"Did Phil think that he was going to die every day?" she asked softly again.

"I…I don't…"

"Did he know what it feel like to have the weight lifted off his shoulders?"

Tommy stopped trying to talk.

"I know he felt something that night." She said tears in her eyes, "we're twins, I always knew what he felt. Tell me tommy, what did he feel that night!"

Tommy looked at her, "remorse…" he muttered, 'he felt guilty that night…he felt guilty that he never saw his family since he joined the business."

"He sure as hell didn't see them after." She said, her voice rising a little, "then again I guess he didn't have much choice, seeing as you kept him in that damn business!"

"Lil, calm down." Kimi said soothingly.

"I'm sick and tired of everyone telling me to calm down!" she shouted, making everyone in the diner stop what they were doing, "I don't want to be calm!" she shouted tears streaming down her face, "how can I be calm? Tell me Kimi! What makes you think, with everything that has happened to me, that I can be calm?"

"Lil, please…" tommy said.

"Screw you Tommy." She said icily, "You're the cause of everything! If it weren't for you Phil would still be here, if it weren't for you I would still have a brother!" she grabbed her bag and stormed off to the door, she opened the door and went through it, slamming it when she got through.

Tommy looked down, then stood up, he put money on the table, "My treat.' He muttered and walked out, tears threatening to fall from his eyes, Kimi tried to follow him but Chuckie grabbed her arm, "he needs some time alone." He whispered to her.

Tommy got into his truck and sped off, not caring where he was going, just wanting to get away from the diner, he drove till he was in the middle of nowhere, and parked on the side of the road, he got out of the truck and went to the bed of the truck, he opened a cooler and pulled out a beer bottle, he popped the cap and took a swig of it, his tears now streaming down his face. _If it weren't for you, I would still have a brother! _He heard Lil say again and again in his mind. In an angry fit, he slammed the beer bottle into the side of his truck, making it shatter, he felt the glass cut open his hand but he didn't care, he sank to the ground and cried, holding his head, he sat beside his truck for hours, letting his tears flow freely, "why the hell did this have to happen!" he screamed at the sky, "why did I have to live, why couldn't you have let Phil come back!" he looked down again, "I know why…" he muttered ruefully, "because I wasn't the one that guy was looking for…" he heard a car slowly park beside his truck, he knew it was probably Kimi, he wiped his tears away but kept looking at the ground.

"Tommy?" Kimi asked, "Are you alright."

"I'm fine," he muttered.

"Lil…Lil wasn't in her right mind when she said that." Kimi said.

"She was in her right mind." Tommy said, "Lil always is."

"I talked to her, she said that she didn't mean to say it, but to her it didn't' seem fair that you can have a weight lifted off your shoulders while her brother is in a grave."

"You don't think I know that?" he asked.

"Tommy I know that you knew that." Kimi said softly sitting next to him, "I looked into your face during his Funeral and knew exactly how you felt, But Lil Didn't know that."

Tommy kept looking at the ground. "But she's right…" tommy murmured, "if I hadn't opened my mouth and convinced Phil to go with me, then he would've stayed here, gone to school, lived."

"Tommy you and I both know that Phil would've followed you." She said, "just to make sure you would come back."

Tommy sighed and looked at his hand, now crisscrossed with cuts.

Kimi pulled out a napkin and wiped the blood away.

Tommy looked at her, "do you think Lil just said it because she's sad?" Tommy asked.

"Tommy," she said, "think about how you were feeling when Phil died, you were angry, sad, depressed, now think about Lil, that was her brother, what you felt, she felt four times over, and to hear you say that you had a weight lifted off of your shoulders, was probably more then she could bear, probably made her think that you didn't care about Phil."

Tommy sighed, "So what your saying is, I need to be more careful about what I say."

"Well yes." Kimi said, "saying something as careless as you did back at the Diner around Lil will probably set her off quicker then most."

Tommy put his head down, "I didn't mean it like that though," he said.

"I know you didn't, I'm sure Lil knows you didn't too, but when it first came out, it sounded careless to her."

"I guess I'll have to apologize tomorrow." He said.

"That would help." Kimi said.

"Thanks Kimi." He said, "How you became so wise is a mystery to me."

Kimi smiled, "well with how many times I have to help bring friends together it's not hard to figure it out." She said, "Now come on." She stood up and walked to her car.

Tommy stood up and looked over at her.

She looked over at him, a twinkle in her eye, "we have some unfinished business at my house."

Tommy woke up in the morning, Kimi asleep curled up next to him; he carefully looked at his watch, "Kimi cub." He said, shaking her softly, "time to get up."

"It's too early to get up." She muttered, "Give it another hour."

"It's 7, school starts at 8.

"Do we have to go to school?" she asked,

"Yep, it's the law."

She sighed and sat up, clutching the sheets to her naked frame, "at least it's Wednesday right?" she asked, "two more days until the weekend.

He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek, 'yep." He said, "and then it could just be me and you."

She smiled and stood up, "that sounds better then most deals." She said walking into the bathroom.

Tommy smiled and stood up, putting on his jeans and his shirt.

Kimi got out of the bathroom, fully dressed and ready to go.

"How can you get ready so fast?" he asked.

"I'm like superwoman," she said smiling.

Tommy kissed her, and put his arms around her.

"We're not doing it before school," she whispered to him.

"Oh come on, we have time." He whispered back.

She shook her head laughing, "no," she said, and pulled away slowly, she walked downstairs, "I'm not going to school tired."

Tommy grinned and followed, "we taking my truck or your car?" he asked.

"How about your Truck." Kimi said.

"Sounds like a plan." He said, pulling out his keys.

Tommy and Kimi walked into school together, their hands intertwined, "so you going to apologize to Lil today?"

"Yeah," Tommy said, "as soon as I find her."

Kimi nodded, then looked down the hall, "is that Stiles?" she asked pointing towards a group.

Tommy looked and saw Stiles Being pinned against the lockers. "Kimi I'll be right back." He let go of her hand and walked over to them.

"Guy's, guy's come on please don't do this." Stiles said, "I didn't even do anything!"

"Shut it Stiles!" Scott shouted, "I told you to never get close to her, and I find out you're talking to her! I'm gonna pound your face in!"

"Hey Scott!" Tommy said and punched him, making him drop Stiles.

Scott fell down "Damn it!" he shouted.

"You all right Stiles?" he asked.

"Yeah," Stiles said, then pushed Tommy out of the way and punched a guy that had tried to hit Tommy. "Gotta watch your back." Stiles said, and Tommy nodded.

Scott stood up as two of his friends ran over, 'these two are totaled." He growled. And the three ran at Tommy and Stiles.

"Hey Stiles, you ever here about the two lineman and the quarterback?" Tommy asked, and then punched Scott in the face.

"I hear the punch line is good." Stiles said, socking one of the linemen in the stomach.

Tommy jumped to the side as another lineman ran at them; he grabbed his arm and swung him around, making him slam into the Locker.

Scott started getting up but Stiles walked over to him, "how you doing asshole?" he asked and punched Scott, knocking him out.

"Nice Punch." Tommy said walking over, he kicked a guy that was down across the face, knocking him completely out, "think I heard your fist break the sound barrier."

Stiles nodded grinning.

A teacher walked over, "Stilinski, Pickles!" he shouted, "What the hell happened here!"

"Uh…well Scott just keeled over, Mike ran into the lockers, and Rogers clutched his stomach then complained about his jaw hurting, then fell down." Stiles said.

"Stilinski no one likes a smart ass." The teacher snarled, "Now tell me the truth!"

"Alright here's the truth," Tommy said, "Scott was trying to Intimidate Stiles, so I ran over, punched him, then punched his friend, then Stiles punched a guy that was trying to hit me, then Scott got up and called over two of his goons, Stiles knocked out Scott, I knocked out another guy, and now your getting mad at us for defending ourselves."

The Teacher stood there, "Fine." He muttered and walked away.

Stiles Grinned, "up top Tommy!" he shouted, and Tommy high fived him, "man we made an awesome team!"

"Hell yeah," Tommy said, "Just don't let me have to bail you out again."

Stiles nodded.

"So what exactly was he trying to Pound your face in for?"

"Well this morning I bumped into Lil, literally bumped into her, I wasn't looking and suddenly we crashed into each other, after we stopped saying sorry and everything, we started talking, we ended up talking until school started, and I guess Scott didn't want me talking to her."

"Man that's just not right." Tommy said.

Stiles nodded, "well we better get going." He said, "Class is about to start."

"Go on ahead," he said, and walked back over to Kimi, "sorry about that." He said.

Kimi smiled, 'hey you had to help Stiles." She said.

Tommy took her hand and walked her to her class, "so I'll see you during lunch?" he asked.

"Yep," she said, "and during lunch your going to apologize to Lil."

"I know," he said, "we established this last night."

Kimi smiled then kissed him, "I'll see you at lunch." She said and walked into her class.

Tommy smiled, and walked to his class.

Dil walked into an old building, following one of his buddies, "you sure this is the place?"

"Relax Dil, this is the place." she said, "Just follow me."

Dil looked around, not seeing anything, 'I'm starting to have second thoughts Emma."

"Relax." She said, "It's not like you'll get caught." She opened a door, "in here."

Dil walked in and looked around, a few guys were standing around talking, in the middle of the room a man sat in a recliner, "well Emma, who did you bring?"

"This is my friend Dil," Emma said, "He wants to join."

"Oh really?" he asked standing up and walking over, "what makes you think he'll be a good member?"

"He's quick on his feet." Emma said, "Knows how to get out of tight situations."

"Especially with you Em." Someone said and a bunch of the guy's snickered.

Emma turned red.

"Enough." The man said and walked over to Dil, "what's your full name?"

"Dil Pickles."

"You related to Tommy pickles?" he asked.

"Y-yes…"

He smiled, "I worked with your brother a year ago, he's a good man." He shook Dil's hand, "this isn't the kind of business he was in, but still just as dangerous, follow me."

Dil followed him into a warehouse; it was full of boxed electronics, MP3's, IPods, computers and TV's.

"This is our carrying system, we put the Mary Jane into this merchandise, and go around selling it, when the people buy it they take it home open it up and have their buzz, of course the tech still works after that, we've been doing good for a while but I want to broaden our horizons, so you and Emma will be going into the school and selling all this stuff, like I said before it's dangerous, Police find out, your in jail, another distributor finds out, they'll kick the living shit out of you, if your lucky, if your not lucky you'll be dead." he pulled out a knife and cut his palm then held the knife out to Dil, "you in?"

Dil looked at the knife, then took it, "I'm in." he said cutting his palm and shaking the mans hands.

The man gave a toothy grin, "great! I'm Murdoch, I'll be your boss."

Emma ran over, "Congratulations Dil!" she said hugging him.

Dil nodded smiling, _dear lord; if tommy finds out I'm dead. _He thought.


	5. jumped

Tommy walked into his parents house after school, he had told Lil that he was sorry for what he ahd said and she had forgiven him, but he knew he was on thin ice, "man I'm ready to sleep." He mutterd.

"THOMAS PICKLES!" Stu shouted.

"guess I'm not sleeping yet." He said and walked into the house, his father was standing there with an angry expression on his face. "what's this I here about you in jail!"

"bogus charges, said I had kidnapped a friend and in reality, she was hanging out at the old club house." Tommy said, "you would've known if you had come to help me like I asked."

"I'm not bailing your ass out anymore." Stu growled.

"you never did," Tommy said, 'why do you care if I get in jail anyways?"

"because we had a little agreement." Stu said, "that you would stay out of trouble!"

"and I have!" tommy shouted.

"apparently not if you were arrested!"

"this is complete and total bullshit!"

"watch how you talk to me young man! Your under my roof!"

"I won't be for long," tommy shouted, "as soon as I find an apartment I'm back out, then you won't have to worry about me anymore." He turned around and stormed out, bumping into Dil and Emma.

"woah T where ya going?"

"I'm going out." Tommy muttered getting into his truck and driving off."

"what's his problem?" emma asked.

"probably a fight with the old man." Dil said, "lets head up to my room.

"Dil," Stu said as he walked in.

"Yeah dad?"

"be quiet when you go upstairs…your mothers sick again."

"alright dad."

Tommy drove to Kimi's house and knocked on the door.

"hello?" Kimi asked opening the door, "oh hey tommy!"

"hey Kimi, think you can hang out this afternoon?"

"of course," she said, "hold on let me go get my boots." She walked upstairs and Tommy walked in.

"hey tommy," Lil said from the couch, she looked troubled.

"hey Lil…what's wrong?" he asked.

"nothing…just that my Ex boyfriend won't let any guy talk to me." she said, "he tried to kick Stiles ass today."

"yeah I heard about that." Tommy said, "heard Stiles really kicked his ass.

"yeah…he really did." Lil said smiling a little.

Kimi walked back downstairs, "oh sorry Lil, did you want to come?" she asked.

"No, I better get home." Lil said, "mom needs help with dinner." She walked out and went to her car.

"I'm worried about her." Kimi said.

"So am I," Tommy said, "But Lil's strong, she'll get through it." he turned to Kimi, "lets go to the Diner."

Lil drove down the road and to a small bar, she got out and pulled out her fake ID and walked in.

"Lil!" the bartender said, "here for a cold one?"

"yeah Joe, I need one." She said walking over.

"alright, Regular?"

"yep," she said.

"alright, New kid!" he shouted, 'get a margarita ready!"

"yes sir!" a familiar voice said and a guy came out with a drink in his hand, "one margarita." He said putting in front of Lil, "oh…hey Lil."

"Stiles…" Lil said uncomfortably, "I didn't know you worked here."

"yeah well…family business." He said, "I didn't know you drank."

"only when I'm troubled," Lil said, "which is most of the time now."

"yeah I know." Stiles said, Lil started pulling out her wallet to pay for her drink, "don't worry about it, on the house."

'thanks Stiles." She said and took a drink, "so I heard you kicked Scotts ass."

"eh I had a little help." Stiles said, pulling out a rag and wiping down the counter, "if Tommy hadn't jumped in and taken on Scotts crony's then I would've been toast."

Lil nodded, "I saw Scotts chin, you gave him a pretty nasty cut."

Stiles smiled, "well that's how I roll," he said cockily, leaning against the bar, "I'm stone cold, set and ready." His hand slid off the bar and he fell down onto the floor.

Lil jumped up, "are you alright?" she asked worriedly.

Stiles popped up, 'I'm fine, completely fine." He said.

Lil giggled a little, 'you're a clutzy for someone who works in a bar."

"well I'm only clutzy in front of beautiful girls." He said, "you know, the ones with the cute laugh and the sparkling blue eyes?"

Lil turned a little red, "yeah, I know."

Stiles smiled a little.

Lil's phone rang and she looked at it, "oh crap, Stiles I got to go," she said standing up.

"what happened?"

"tommy just got Jumped."

Lil and stiles ran into the Hospital, Kimi was crying and trying to tell the cops what had happened. "Kimi!" Lil shouted running over to her, "what happened!"

"It-it was Scott, Scott and his stupid Jock pack." She sobbed, "we were walking into the diner when they came out and grabbed Tommy, it was Ten on one, Not even a fair fight!"

Lil put her arms around Kimi, comforting him, "is he going to be alright?"

"he'll be fine," the doctor said, "stitches on a few of his cuts and a little bit of rest too, but he'll be alright."

"I'm going to kill scott." Stiles grumbled.

"get in line." Lil said. "can we go see him?"

"yes, go ahead down the hall."

Lil, Kimi and Stiles walked in, "oh shit," stiles said, "Tommy you look like pounded crap."

Lil hit him in the arm.

"ow…what did I say?"

Kimi ran over to Tommy and hugged him.

"kimi…calm down I'm alright." Tommy muttered, "only a little sore."

Lil looked at his wounds, he had a cut across his left jaw line, it had a few stitches in it and was still trying to bleed, through his gown she saw blood seeping through the bandages, the right side of his face was black and blue from the punches he took and he had a small band-aid over one eye.

"lil," Tommy muttered, "Scott said that I couldn't talk to you."

"and what did you say?"

"I told him to shove it and I slammed him into a wall." Tommy said trying to grin, but it hurt too much.

Lil shook her head, 'you need to learn when to keep your mouth shut pickles." She said.

"oh I've learned, I just forget my teachings." He said.

From down the hall Lil heard someone arguing with the doctor. She loked out and saw Stu arguing with the doctor, a police officer right beside him..

"sir there's too many people at the time, wait for a few seconds."

"I don't give a damn if there's too many people, I'm his father!"

"sir I understand that but…"

"But what! How hard is it to understand!"

"uh guy's I'm gonna go," Lil said to them, walking out.

"sir now you can go in." the doctor said quickly, seeing Lil walk out.

"about time." He growled at him and walked in, "tommy, how did you wind up in here."

"Got jumped by some of the highschools football team." He muttered.

He walked over to his sons bedside, "why the hell would they jump you!"

"didn't want me to talk to someone…can't remember who."

"that's the stupidest reason to jump someone, how many were there."

"About ten." Stiles said.

"Not even a fair fight…" stu muttered, "who were these kids,I want them arrested!" he said turning around to the cop.

"sir we don't know who they are, and their minors."

"I don't give a damn, I want them arrested!" Stu shouted.

"we'll do what we can." The cop said and left.

Stu turned to Tommy, "well, I'll see you at home Tommy," he muttered and left.

"I think that's as close to friendly as he's been since I got back." Tommy said.

"alright, well tommy I gotta go but I'll see you tomorrow," Stile said and went outside, Lil was outside looking at the sky, "Uh hey Lil," he said walking over.

"yeah stiles?" Lil asked.

"I needed to ask you something…cause you know there's a dance coming up and…well I didn't want to go by myself, and you might want to go…unless you don't want to that's totally fine but…"

lil cut him of, "Stiles, are you asking me out?"

"yes, yes I am." Stiles said.

"well, dances aren't usually my thing, but…I'll go with you."

He smiled, "that's great!"

Lil noded, "I'll see you later Stiles." She said towards her car.

"see ya Lil!" stiles said smiling, then started walking home, 'man this is has been a good week for me.

Tommy walked out of the Hospital with Kimi at his side, it had been five days since he'd been put into the hospital and now he was out, with orders to not do anything strenuous, "now Tommy," Kimi said, "you will not b getting into anymore fights." Kimi said.

"I can't promise that." Tommy said, "too many people don't like me."

"well I like you tommy, and I'd rather see you without cuts and bruises all over your body."

"alright, I'll try," he said.

Dil drove up in Tommy's truck, "sup." He said.

"dil, why are you driving my truck?"

"because my cars getting fixed and dad's at work, so I figured 'hey, I'll just take big bro's car."

Tommy sighed, "alright." He said and Kimi opened the door for him, he got in and Kimi climbed in after him.

Emma looked at them from the passenger seat, "how's it going?" she asked.

"good…" Tommy said, "Dil, who is this?"

"Oh Emma, this is Tommy, Tommy, this is emma."

"Nice to meet you," he said.

"Same," she said, "so what's it like to get punched by like ten line man."

"well it hurts," Tommy said, "and not very pleasant."

"I can imagine." Emma said, then looked ahead, 'hey Dil, the club wants us to drop by this afternoon." She said.

"we'll go as soon as I drop off my bro." Dil said.

"alright," Emma said.

Tommy looked at his brother and his friend, _what club is he in? _he thought to himself.

Dil parked in front of Kimi's house, "well I'll see you guy's later." Dil said to them as Kimi got out.

"I'll see you at home Dil, but do me a favor, get my truck to me before tomorrow." Tommy said getting out.

"yeah bro," Dil said and drove off, "why do we have to go see Murdoch?" he asked Emma as they drove.

"he's gonna give us our first shipment." She said smiling.

Dil looked at the girl, when he had first met her she was a shy outcast, didn't really like to intermingle with people, sorta like Dil, when they first met they didn't even like each other, but they became good friends after a few days, after a year they were inseparable. And now they were partners in pot selling, "well that's cool." Dil said as he pulled into the hide out. They got out and walked into the hideout.

"ah Dil, Em, good to see both of you." Murdoch said walking over, "got your shipment in." he said as two men brought over two boxes, 'Now you remember, Cellphones are about 30 bucks, cameras are 40, and laptops are 60."

"I still don't understand why all of this is so cheap," Dil said.

"well the tech is really cheap," Murdoch said, "it works pretty good but easily breaks, so we don't charge for the tech, we charge for the weed."

Dil nodded and picked up one of the boxes, "lets go get these on the truck." Dil said.

"Actually Dil," Murdoch said, 'I took the Liberty of going to the mechanic and procuring your vehicle."

"It's not supposed to be fixed until next week.

Murdoch pulled out Dil's keys, "actually it was just fixed today." He said tossing the keys to Dil, "go take a look." He said pointing at a door.

Dil walked through the door and saw his car, not the rusted old Mustang his dad had bought for him, it had been sanded down and repainted black, the interior was no longer ripped up and dusty, but new leather seats. " how did this even happen." Dil asked.

"you like it? I had Joch work on it for a little while, the guy knows how to restore a classic. He even put in a chip into the motor, helps make it start better, and go quicker, go ahead, try it out."

Dil walked over to the car and opened the door, getting in, he put the key into the ignition and turned it, the car instantly started with a loud roar, "holy shit!" he shouted,

Murdoch laughed, "listen to that engine purr!" he shouted walking over to the drivers side, "what do ya think Dil?"

"I think this is completely awesome!" he shouted, "I'll pay you back as soon as I can Murdoch!"

"na don't worry about it," Murdoch said, "you're part of the gang, it's on the house, just don't total it." he said.

Dil smiled, "thanks Murdoch." He said.

"don't mention it." Murdoch said, "Now go out and sell!"

Tommy looked out the window in Kimi's house as Dil drove up, "hmm…" he muttered,.

"what is it?" Kimi asked walking over.

"Dil's car just got a lot better." Tommy said.

Dil walked in, "sup T!" he said happily, "How's it hanging."

"pretty good," Tommy said, "Dil, how much did all of that cost on your car?"

"one of my friends souped it up for me, gave it a new paintjob and everything. " he said.

"Must've cost you a little bit of money." Tommy said.

"Na, he just gave it a new paint job. He didn't go over budget."

Tommy looked at his brother, "mhmm…" he said looking hard a t Dil.

"welp I better get going, just came to say that your truck was back." Dil said quickly and ran out and went back to his car, driving off.

"Tommy," Kimi said looking at him, "what's wrong?"

"I think my brothers gotten himself into something dangerous." Tommy muttered.


	6. the dance

Dil walked down the hall, his bag heavy with the merchandise Murdoch had given him, "man all of this stuff is heavy," he muttered.

"Look at the brightside," Emma said walking over, "at least you're getting a work out."

"But I hate work outs!" Dil complained.

Emma shook her head, "well you need a work out," she said, "your getting a little pudgy."

"Well so are you, mostly around your chest area."

Emma turned red, "don't start with me Pickles." She said, "your in dangerous waters."

"What it's a compliment," Dil said, "at least I'm seeing it as a compliment."

She shook her head, "your such an asshole." She muttered.

"But I'm your asshole," Dil said smiling.

She shook her head and smirked.

Tommy watched the two.

"Why do you keep watching them?" Kimi asked.

"Because I think my brothers dealing." He said.

"Come on Tommy that's nonsense," Kimi said, "he wouldn't get sucked in, you know him.'

"I know, but I just can't shake the feeling." He muttered.

"Tommy, you have to trust him, we've known Dil all of our lives, he won't just throw away his entire future."

Tommy sighed, "alright fine," he said, 'maybe I'm just over reacting."

Kimi nodded, "so about this dance," she said.

"I'm already taking someone," he said to her.

"And who are you taking?" she asked crossing her arms.

"You," he said.

"Oh, right." Kimi said smiling, then stopped, "but like I was saying, I'm not aloud to go."

"Why?" he asked.

"Because I accidently blew up the chem lab a few weeks ago."

" Well I'm still going to be hanging out with you all night." He said, kissing her.

Kimi smiled.

Stiles ran over, "Tommy! Can I ask you a huge favor," he said.

"Depends on what it is." Tommy said.

"Can I borrow your truck tomorrow for the dance?"

"Uh…no," Tommy said.

"Come on man, I really need to impress Lil!"

"And an old rusted truck would do that?" he asked.

"…Well it's better then walking her to the dance."

Tommy thought about it, "alright, I got an idea, Kimi I'll be right back."

Kimi nodded, "I'll see you later Tommy." She said standing up and giving him a kiss, then walking away.

Tommy smiled then stood up, "alright follow me." he told stiles

Tommy pulled up to his old apartment building.

"What are we here for?" Stiles asked.

Tommy got out of his truck, "follow me." he said. Walking over to something covered in a tarp.

"What's that?" he asked getting out.

"Well you see, when me and Phil got our first pay, we decided to get another car, since the pick up truck isn't as good." He grabbed the Tarp, "we didn't get to drive it that much, so might as well let you use it right?" he pulled the tarp off, showing a black 2005 Ferrari f430.

'No, freaking way!" Stiles said in awe.

Tommy pulled out the keys to the car, "still got a full tank of gas." He said tossing him the keys.

Stiles caught it, "this looks brand new!"

"Eh it was scrap when we bought it, it took us about four months to fix it up and make it look nice."

"And your giving it to me?" he asked.

"I was going to give it to Dil, but his car got fixed, and I know you don't have one so I thought, what the hell right?"

"Thanks man." Stiles said.

"Just be careful with it." he said, 'this was Phil's pride and joy…"

Stiles looked at him, "You all right Tommy?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said, "I'll see you back at school." He got into his truck and started it up, driving away.

Stiles watched him leave then looked back at the Ferrari, "I'm still freaking out about this!"

Lil sat in her front yard waiting for Stiles, she was waiting outside because she didn't want her mother to make a big deal about this, she was looking down at a picture of her and Phil as babies, they were playing in the mud and having a good time, "oh Phil," she muttered, "why couldn't you stay?" a honking horn took her out of her thoughts and looked up, 'holy…" she started, "Stiles! Where did you get that!"

Stiles pulled into the driveway, 'oh you know, I found it around." He said with a big grin.

Lil stood up, "it looks great," she said, Stiles got out and she looked at how he was dressed, the theme of the dance was a ballroom dance, and Stiles had dressed in pinstripe suit, with a matching gangster hat. "You look pretty dashing." She said.

Stiles smiled and looked at Lil's white dress and shawl, then looked at lil, her hair was in curls that cascaded down her shoulders, she didn't have any make up on, but to Stiles, she looked beautiful, "you look beautiful," he said.

Lil blushed, "thanks." She said.

Stiles walked over to her, he took off his hat and said in a very prestigious voice, "ma'am, if you would follow me, I will take you to your ride for this evening."

Lil smiled, "always know how to treat a girl huh?"

Stiles grinned, "of course." He said and took one of her hands and leading her to the car door, he opened it and let her sit down, then closed the door.

Lil watched Stiles go around the front of the car, _tonight's going to be a good night, _she thought to herself.

Stiles led Lil into the dance, everyone was dressed in a similar fashion as Lil and Stiles, "this looks like a picture from a new york ballroom." Stiles said, 'the only difference is that everyone is like ten years younger then everyone in the picture."

Lil nodded, "it's all so prim and proper." She said.

"Never thought anyone in our school could act like that." Stiles said.

Lil grinned, "very true." She said, "lets go dance."

Stiles shifted uncomfortable, "uh…I have something to tell you…I can't dance."

Lil looked at him, "well then I'll just have to teach you." She said and led him out to the dance floor.

Dil and Emma sat in the back of the gym watching everyone dance, a few people would walk over to them and they would give them something and cash would exchange hands. "How much we sale?" Dil asked.

"Out of the four boxes we've sold two, so we're ahead of our deadline by three days." Emma said, "all we need is another social gathering like this and we'll be good.

Dil nodded, and saw four guy's glaring at them, "who are they?" he asked.

Emma looked over, 'I don't know, "she said, "But they don't look too happy."

Dil nodded, "maybe we should go." He said.

Stiles and Lil walked towards Stiles car, "that was fun." Lil said smiling.

'Yeah," Stiles said grinning, "we should do this again sometime."

Lil nodded, 'how about next Friday? Maybe go catch a movie."

"Sounds great." Stiles said grinning, "still can't believe the DJ's equipment short circuited.

Lil nodded, "that was weird." She looked over and saw Dil and some girl run across the parking lot, four guy's following them, "hmm that's weird." She muttered, she watched as Dil tried to open his car door, one of the guys ran forward and grabbed him throwing him to the ground. "Oh my god." She said.

"I thought we told your boss not to be sending anyone here anymore." The guy growled down at Dil, "This is our turf."

"Look man, we're just all trying to make a living, how about we just shake hands and go get a bite to eat."

"I don't think so." He growled pulling out a switchblade. "See, I gotta make sure you don't come back." Two guys stepped forward and grabbed Dil, pulling him up.

"Leave him alone!" Emma shouted taking a few steps forward, but one of the guys blocked her way.

"Just gonna take a little off the top," the guy growled and dug the knife into the side of Dils' face, Dil screamed in pain as the guy brought the knife down the length of his face, Dil kicked out and caught the guy in the gut.

"Son of a bitch!" he shouted, "your going to pay for that." He growled standing up; he walked over to Dil and punched him, and kept punching him.

"STOP IT!" Emma screamed.

The leader kneed Dil in the face and reared back for another punch when someone jumped out and tackled him.

The two men holding Dil dropped him and ran to help their leader.

Stiles got up and punched one of them, then turned to the second man, the second man screamed in pain and fell to the ground, Lil stood behind him with a Tazor.

"A tazor? Nice." Stiles said.

"Girls gotta be protected." She said.

The guy's ran away, one of them shaking badly from being tazed.

"Dil…" Emma shouted running over to him, "DIL!"

Dil's face was covered in bruises and cuts.

Lil ran over, "we have to get him to the hospital." Lil said.

"No!" Emma said, "He'll be taken to jail."

"For what?" Lil asked.

Emma looked back down at Dil then at Lil, "I know where to take him."

Tommy woke up with Kimi shaking him, "yeah babe?" he asked softly sitting up.

"We fell asleep during that last movie," she said.

Tommy looked at the blue screen on the TV, "aw man," he groaned, "I liked the breakfast club!"

Kimi smiled, "yeah I know," she said, 'I tried to wake you up a few minutes ago but you looked so peaceful."

Tommy smiled, "let me put in another movie," he said starting to get up.

"Are you sure you'd rather be here with me instead of at that dance?" Kimi asked.

"Of course I want to be with you," he said, lying back down beside her after putting in another movie, "besides who likes those dances anyways? I don't even know how to dance."

"You told me the same thing during freshman year and we went to homecoming together." Kimi said smiling, "you danced fine then."

Tommy looked at her, 'I was stepping on your toes all night," he said.

"Still better then when Chuckie tried to cut in." Kimi said, "I remember he was trying to get me away from you."

"And he made you stumble and fall into the punch bowl," Tommy said chuckling, "I remember that, I also remember the thrashing you gave him as soon as it happened."

Kimi smiled, "that was the first night we stayed together." Kimi said, "Do you remember that?"

Tommy smiled, "yeah I do," he said, "you got out of the shower and you were still crying from being humiliated at the dance, so I laid down with you while you curled up.

Kimi nodded, "Then every night after that you wanted to stay with me."

Tommy grinned, "Well it's hard to stay away from you."

Kimi smiled and kissed Tommy, and they wrapped their arms around each other.

Tommy's phone vibrated on the table beside him, he grabbed it and answered it, "hello?" he asked, "Stiles… how's it going…what? What happened… where are you right now…I'm on my way." Tommy stood up and grabbed his keys, "I gotta go Kimi, Dil got jumped."

"Tommy wait!" Kimi said, Tommy turned around, "you need to put on some clothes first."

"Oh…right." Tommy started getting dressed.

Kimi stood up and got on her jeans and a tank top, "and I'm coming with you." She said, Tommy started to protest, "stop Tommy," she said, "Dil's like the little brother I've never wanted to have, so I'm coming with you."

"Alright," Tommy said smiling, "Now lets get going.

Stiles waited in front of the warehouse as Tommy pulled up, "Stiles!" Tommy said getting out of the truck, "where's my brother."

"He's inside, one of Murdoch's men is wrapping him up.

"Murdoch?" Tommy asked, and then went inside.

"Hey Tommy," Murdoch said uneasily, "long time no see…"

"Why is my brother here..." tommy asked coldly

"Well you see…he was doing a run for me…"

"AND WHY THE HELL IS HE DOING A RUN FOR YOU!"

"He works for me, started working for me about four months ago."

Tommy turned red,

"Tommy…" Kimi whispered to him, "Calm down."

He took a deep breath, "where is my brother?" he asked.

"He's in the other room." Murdoch said.

Tommy walked into the next room, Murdoch watched him leave, "man I forgot how angry he could get." Murdoch said.

"Yeah…" Kimi said, 'It's kinda hot."

Emma sat beside Dil as a guy stood beside him, looking at his cut.

"Thanks for helping me over here Emma." Dil said smiling.

"Your welcome," she said.

"DIL!" Tommy shouted walking in.

"Oh shit…" Dil muttered.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Well…me and Emma were leaving the dance when a bunch of guy's just jumped us for no reason."

"I know what you were doing at the dance," tommy said.

"We were on a date…" Dil lied.

"Yeah bull shit." Tommy said.

"Whelp nice knowing you Emma." He said.

"Listen Dil, I just want to know why you got into this?"

Dil looked away at Tommy, he didn't see anger in his brothers' eyes, but disappointment, "I…I just thought that the family needed more money.

"You know better then I do that Dad isn't going to take a cent of that money." Tommy said.

"Well he needs it," Dil said, "with mom's medical bill and all.

"Medical bill?" Tommy asked, "what medical bill?"


	7. confrontations,

Stu poured himself a cup of water, he looked up as the door slammed and Tommy stormed in, "when were you planning to tell me." Tommy asked outraged.

"Tell you what?" Stu asked.

"That mom has cancer!" he shouted.

"You didn't need to know." He said.

"I didn't! She's my mother!"

"And you left for two years!" Stu shouted standing up, "I didn't think you deserved to know."

"What gives you the right to decide what I get to know?" Tommy growled.

"Stu glared at him, "when you left your mother was heart broken, and she only got worse as time went on, why would I want to tell you and bring you back here so you can cause us more pain!"

"I could've helped!" Tommy shouted.

"I'm not taking dirty money," Stu growled, "not even if I was on my death bed!"

Tommy glared at him, "I'm done with this," he growled, "walking upstairs, he grabbed the unpacked boxes and dragged them outside, throwing them into his truck.

"And where do you think your going!" Stu shouted.

"I'm leaving," Tommy shouted turning around, "you don't want my help, you barely even want me here."

"Fine! Leave!" Stu shouted, and was about to continue when a gunshot rang out, then another,

Tommy looked around, then went to one of the boxes and pulled out his revolver, he saw a man run out of an alley, a gun in his hand, Tommy pointed his gun and fired, hitting the man in the leg, the man kept going and got into a car, driving away. Tommy ran closer, firing at the car, and then looked over at the alley.

"Great," Stu shouted at him, "you just assaulted a man!"

"Shut up dad," he said, walking down the alley, he saw a dead body lying in the weeds, it's face hidden from view, Tommy walked over and looked, 'Oh dear god." He muttered, "Scott…"

"Tommy…" he heard someone whisper hoarsely.

Tommy turned around and saw a familiar red haired man lying against a fence, "Chuckie!" Tommy shouted running over.

Chuckie's glasses lay beside him broken; he was holding his side, blood soaking his shirt.

Stu walked into the alley, "oh my god," he said covering his mouth.

'Dad go call the cops," Tommy said.

"Tommy…"

"Dad!" tommy said abruptly, "don't argue with me! Go call the cops!"

Tommy sat in an interrogation room; he was handcuffed to the table.

A detective walked in, "Tommy Pickles," he said, "we see each other far too much."

"Detective Sloan." Tommy said, "I'd shake your hand but they got me cuffed to this damn thing.

"For good reason, from what the police report says is that you were found standing by your friend with a gun in your hand, with a dead body a few feet away."

"I heard the shots and went to investigate, I saw the man and I shot at him."

"Yes there was a report of four shots, two in the alley then two in the street."

"Yes, I hit him in the leg."

He nodded, "and you know both of the victims?"

"Yes, the dead one is Scott Davis, he was captain of the football."

"You don't sound like you liked him that much."

"He and his buddies jumped me while I was with my girlfriend, I wasn't exactly buddies with him."

Detective Sloan wrote something down, "and the survivor?"

"Chuckie Finster," Tommy said, "me and him have been best friends since we were in diapers…is he alright?"

"He's fine, he slipped into a coma but the doctors predict that he'll get out soon."

Tommy nodded.

"Now Mr. Pickles did you see the license plate of the car?"

"No, it was taped up." Tommy said.

"Can you give me the description of the car?"

"Black mustang, black tinted windows, a bullet hole in the trunk."

"Bullet hole?"

"I fired two shots, one hit him, and the other hit his car."

Detective Sloan nodded, 'now, your still a suspect, but I think that you can be released for now." He pulled out the key and undid his cuffs, "go to the front desk and you can get your gun back."

Tommy nodded, "thanks Sloan, I'll see you later," he said walking out.

"I hope not," Sloan muttered.

Tommy walked to the front desk and got his gun back,

"Tommy!" Kimi shouted running over, 'I came to pick you up."

Tommy smiled, "Thanks." He said giving her a kiss on the cheek.

Kimi nodded, "I just got back from visiting Chuckie, he's still under."

Tommy put his arms around her, "he'll be fine," he whispered to her, "Chuckie's a pretty tough guy."

Kimi chuckled a little, tears falling down her face, "yeah." She muttered, then led Tommy to her car, "I hear your dad finished packing everything up," she said.

"Oh you heard that…" Tommy asked.

"Everyone has, Dil tried to reason with him, but Stu isn't hearing any of it."

"And what did Stu do when he saw Dil's bruises, and his cut?"

"He got mad, but Dil told him he got jumped, he seemed to believe that."

Tommy sighed, "Man this is all messed up."

Kimi nodded, "but hey, you got me, Stiles, and Lil, we're right beside you."

Tommy smiled, "that's good." He said, "That's real good, do you think you could drive me by the hospital? I need to go see Chuckie."

Kimi nodded and stared her car, driving to the hospital, when they got there Tommy got out and walked into Chuckie's room, he was still out, 'Chuckie man…"he muttered walking over to him, "what are you doing here? Why were you in that alley?" he sighed and shook his head, "I'll find who did this to you, and I'll make him pay." He stood up and walked out. "This place isn't safe anymore…" he muttered.

Dil sat nervously in his car, Tommy had called him and told him to meet him at the firing range, and Dil was scared that tommy was about to explode on him.

Tommy's truck pulled up and Tommy got out, "Dil!" he said, "come out here."

Dil got out and slowly walked over, 'h-hey T…" he stuttered.

Tommy walked over to him and pulled out an M1911.

"Whoa T! I know you didn't want me to go into the business, but do you have to do this?"

Tommy raised an eyebrow then handed him the gun, "if your gonna be in the business, you might as well know how to defend yourself."

Dil took the gun and looked at it.

"It's Phil's old gun," he said, "Served him well a few times.'

Dil looked at it, "so…your not mad?"

"Of course I'm mad," Tommy, said, "I didn't want you to get into this life, but now you are so I might as well teach you how to shoot."

Dil nodded, "alright…" he said.

Tommy pulled out a couple of beers, and walked down the range, he put them on a few posts and left them there, "I want you to hit those cans off."

Dil picked up the gun and pointed it down range, he pulled the trigger but nothing happened, "uh T…is there any bullets in this."

"Yes Dil, you have it on safety."

"Oh…" Dil said, and clicked the safety off, "I knew that." He pointed the gun down again and pulled the trigger, the gun went off and it flew out of his hand. "OW!" Dil shouted.

"Don't hold it loosely, firm grip," Tommy said.

Dil picked it up and pointed down the rang again and pulled the trigger, he nicked one of the cans and it started spewing beer, "I hit it!" Dil shouted.

"No you nicked it." He said.

"Oh…what's the difference?'

Tommy quickly pulled out his gun and fired, the can he hit flew into the air, the beer splattering everywhere. "See the difference?" he asked. "Just because the person's bleeding doesn't mean it's gonna stop them."

"Oh…" Dil said.

He pulled out two more beers, "again." He said.

Tommy and Dil drove up to a bar, "you did good little bro," Tommy said getting out of his car.

"Thanks T." he said then looked at the bar, "uh I can't go in there."

"Your with me, yes you can." He said walking in, Dil followed him warily, "two cups of scotch." He said.

The bartender started pouring the drinks, "he over 21?" the bartender asked.

"Yeah," Tommy said and the bartender nodded, putting the drinks in front of them, Tommy picked up the drink and took a good mouthful of it.

Dil took a small sip, "this isn't half bad." Dil said.

"Of course," Tommy said, "it's Scotch, and it's always going to be good."

Dil nodded, "hey Tommy…thanks for helping me, I thought you were going to rat me out."

"Little bro, if I did that then I would be a hypocrite." He said, "Like you said, I was your age when I started."

Dil nodded and took another sip.

"So you and Emma, what's going on there?" Tommy asked.

"To be honest…I have no idea." He said, "some times it feels like we're about to make out, then suddenly we're fighting and arguing.

Tommy smiled, "sounds like me and Kimi," he said, "the only difference is that we made out then fought and argued."

Dil smirked, "and you and Kimi still going good."

"Oh yeah." Tommy said, "she's the one bro, and nothing will change that.

"Tommy?" someone said behind him, he turned around and saw someone he hadn't seen since the night Phil died, 'Megan? Megan Kinsley?"

"I haven't seen you in like four months!" Megan said hugging him.

"Yeah, it's been a while." He said.

Dil tapped his brother on his shoulder.

Tommy turned to him, "Yes?"

"Is she the nothing that will change everything?" Dil whispered.

Tommy hit him, "shut it."

"So what have you been doing?" Megan asked.

"I've gone back to school," he said.

"That's great!" she said.

"What have you been doing?" Tommy asked.

"I've been waitressing here, trying to get back into college."

"Any luck so far?" Tommy asked.

"I have an interview at the local college."

Tommy smiled "that's great." He said, "Now I better get Dil home, he's got to work tomorrow and I got to go meet Kimi."

"Who's Kimi?" Megan asked.

"She's my girlfriend." He said.

"Oh, well I'm happy you found someone." She said smiling, "but we need to get together and talk about the old days."

Tommy nodded, "maybe Thursday," he said.

She nodded, "well I better get to work." She said and walked away.

"So, who was that?" Dil asked.

"That was Megan Kinsley, we used to work together.

"Mhmm…now what do you mean by working together."

"I mean we used to work together, we used to deal together."

"Oh…nothing else."

"Nope, you see, Megan is a lesbian."

"Really?'

"Yep."

"So nothing ever happened between you two?"

"Nope, never." Tommy said finishing his scotch and paying, "Now lets go, before I run into anyone else I used to know."

Tommy walked quietly into the Finsters place, tonight both Chas and Kira were back so tommy had to be really careful, he slipped into Kimi's room and walked over to her bed and laid down, "hey baby." He whispered.

Kimi stirred, "I was wondering where you were." She murmured, "How'd it go with Dil?"

"Better then I thought it would." He said, "and I met someone from…from before."

"Who was it?"

"A fellow dealer named Kinsley." He said, he wasn't telling her Megan's full name; he didn't want her to freak out.

"Oh…" she whispered, "what did you two talk about?"

"Nothing really, we're getting together Thursday for drinks."

"Too bad I can't go," she said, "and meet your friend," she sighed and closed her eyes again, falling back to sleep.

Tommy kissed Kimi's cheek, "goodnight babe, I love you." He whispered and fell asleep.


	8. don't lie

Back home 8

Tommy walked into Kimi's house, walking up to her room, "hey Kimi," he said, 'I found an apartment that I could move into by the end of this week."

"that's pretty cool," Kimi said, walking out of her closet, "I'm going to miss you sleeping next to me."

Tommy smiled, putting his arms around her, "I'm still going to be coming by," he said, "but I doubt I can keep coming by with your parents back in town."

Kimi nodded, "well that sounds about right." She said. "now I'm going to hang out with Lil and Stiles today."

"alright," Tommy said, "have fun, I'm gonna go meet Kinsley."

"alright, I'll see you tonight." Kimi said walking out.

Tommy watched her leave and smiled, _there goes one of the greatest girls I've ever known, _he thought to himself and walked out to his truck, he got in and drove to a bar, he got out and walked in.

Megan looked up from where she was sitting, "hey Tommy." She said.

"how's it going." Tommy asked.

Kimi sat with Lil and Stiles in a small diner, "how are you feeling?" Lil asked.

"Better," she said, "this morning I still felt pretty bad but since then I've gotten a little bit better."

Lil nodded, 'you've been sick every day this week." Lil said, "and the past couple of weeks you haven't been looking good, I think you might need to go to the doctor."

Kimi shook her head, "no I'm fine, besides I hate doctors."

Stiles nodded, "But it's still a good idea to go in."

Lil nodded, "yeah it'll be good to go…wait…is that Tommy?" Lil asked pointing to

Kimi looked out the window, "No that can't be him.' She said, "I mean, he went to go see one of his friends named Kinsley."

"Kimi, I'm telling you that's Tommy." Lil said pointing at the bar across the street, "and he's with another woman."

"no…Tommy wouldn't Cheat on me!"

Lil watched as Tommy and the unknown woman walked out of the bar and went into Tommy's Truck, they started driving away.

"come on," Lil said, "we're following them.

"we'll take my car." Stiles said.

Kimi sat there looking at the Table, _is he really cheating on me?_

"so why do you need me to help you move in?" Megan asked Tommy, 'I thought your girlfriend wanted to help you."

"well she's been feeling under the weather for a few week," Tommy said, "and I didn't want her to try and help and end up over exerting herself."

Megan nodded, "I'll help you, but I would like to meet your girlfriend some time."

He nodded, 'I'll see if she would like to meet you Friday."

Megan smiled as they parked outside of tommy's new apartment, they started carrying boxes into the apartment, "so you meet anyone while you've been in town?" Tommy asked.

"Not really," Megan said, "most girls I meet don't really give me a second look."

"well I bet you'll find one." Tommy said going up to his apartment.

Megan looked around the empty Apartment, "man this is pretty empty." She said.

"yeah, I'm planning on bringing the old couch that we found in our basement."

She nodded, "That's pretty cool." She said, they put the boxes to the side and they walked back down, "so what about this Kimi girl?"

"she's something else." Tommy said, "I really think she's the one."

"really?" Megan asked, "I never heard you talk about her before."

"I didn't really want to talk about her." He said," it was too painful for me too, I'm just glad I get to be with her now."

Megan nodded, "she sounds like a good girl though." She said.

"she is," tommy said opening the door to the street, to see Kimi Standing in front of the door, "Kimi! What are you doing here?"

"catching a cheater in the act!" Lil said, her arms crossed.

"cheater?" Tommy asked confused, "who's cheating?"

"you!" Kimi said, tears in her eyes, "you're the cheater!"

"what?" Tommy said disbelievingly, "Kimi I would never cheat on you!"

"then who the hell is that!" Lil shouted at him, pointing at Megan.

"It does look pretty bad for you bro," Stiles said.

"this is Megan Kinsley," Tommy said, "she was in the business with me."

Lil glared at Megan, "so this slut was with you during your drug days," she said, "looks like he was lying about not seeing anyone during that time too!"

"okay there's been a major misunderstanding." Megan said, "for one, I've never been attracted to Tommy,"

"oh really?" Lil asked, "how do we know your not lying?"

"Because I'm gay." Megan said. Surprising everyone except for Tommy.

"oh shit," Stiles said.

"yeah I'm gay," Megan said again, "and even if I wasn't I'm not the kind of girl to sneak around with someone else's man."

"how do we know your for certain?" Lil asked.

Megan pulled out her wallet, "here's a picture of me and my ex." She said.

"you still have a picture of Clarisse?" Tommy asked.

"I've been meaning to shred it…but she just looks so darn cute!" Megan said exasperated.

Lil looked at it, "okay…that clears it up."

"well I better be going before I get accused of anything else," megan said, "see you around Tommy." She walked down the street.

"welp…" Lil said her cheeks red, "I think I'm gonna…yeah…" she walked back to Stiles car.

Stiles stood there, "I'm gonna…you know.' He followed Lil.

"kimi…" Tommy said looking at his girlfriend, 'why did you think I was lying?"

"because…because you've been different lately," she said, "you talked about Kinsley but you made it sound like it was another guy, at first I thought 'okay he's hanging out with a guy,' but then today I saw you with her…" tears came to her eyes, "I thought you were cheating, I thought you made up Kinsley and was going with some…some slut!"

"kimi I would never do that!" Tommy said.

"but how could I have known?" Kimi asked hysterical, tears flowing down her cheeks, "you didn't tell me Kinsley was a girl, I would call her a guy and you wouldn't correct me, you purposely kept it from me.

"Kimi, I didn't want to worry you," he said, "you've been sick the past couple of weeks and I didn't want to stress you out." He walked over to her and hugged her, "I would never cheat on you."

"i..i have to go… I'm too confused right now," kimi whispered and pulled away from Tommy's hug and walking quickly to stiles car.

Tommy watched her leave, _I am such an idiot, _he thought to himself.

Tommy sat with Dil in his new apartment, "so you didn't tell her Kinsley was a girl," Dil said.

"Right."

"and you were seen with Megan at the bar."

"Right."

"and then you took her from the bar to your new apartment."

"yep."

"man you are such an idiot," Dil said, "your supposed to be the smart one but from this little stunt I'm thinking that you royally screwed up."

"I know I did Dil, I bt Kimi's at her house right now getting ready to dump me."

"or crying her eyes out." Dil muttered.

Tommy sighed, "man what am I supposed to do?"

"apologize?" Dil asked. "that'll probably help big time."

"I already tried, she walked away."

"then try again," Dil said, "in fact, go right now, I'll come with you."

"you know what, your right Dil." Tommy said standing up, "lets go!" they walked out of the apartment and into Tommy's truck, they drove down the road, 'hey after this can we get a bottle of scotch to celebrate?"

"no Dil," tommy muttered, "hmm that's weird, there's a lot of smoke in the sky." He turned the corner and stomped on the Brakes, in front of him, Kimi's house was smoking, fire was coming out of the top windows, fire trucks and police cars were all over the street, Tommy saw Stiles car and Lil and Stiles on the ground, the paramedics checking them, Kimi was no where in site."No…" Tommy whispered, he got out of his truck and ran towards the house, "KIMI!"

"Tommy wait!" Dil shouted running after him.

Tommy ran as fast as he could, he ran at the door and crashed through it, running up the stairs, "Kimi! Where are you!" he coughed as he breathed in the smoke and ran to her room, the fire intensified around him as he pushed against her door, finally he broke it open and looked around the room, coughing from the smoke, "Kimi!" he shouted hoarsely, then saw her curled up in the corner of the room, he ran over to her and picked her up,her head fell back as he picked her up, "kimi…please kimi…." He whispered putting his ear to her heart, he could hear her heart beat but faintly, he turned to the door but the flames had completely engulfed it, he looked around and ran to the window, he knocked it out with his elbow and put Kimi out onto the roof, he climbed out after her and looked around, _no where to go, _ he thought, then saw the pool. He picked up Kimi and held her close to him as he jumped towards the pool, which came rushing up to them, he hit the water which knocked the breath out of him, he kept Kimi close to him as he struggled to get back up to the surface,he pushed one of his hands up and latched onto the surface and pulled himself and kimi out, he laid Kimi onto the concrete and pulled himself up, he layed on his back coughing, his vision was blurry from the smoke and from almost drowning, "Kimi," he whispered slowly turning his head to his girlfriend, she was still unconscious but Tommy could now see the faint rise and fall of her chest, he sighed in relief and looked back at the sky as he heard people running towards him, he felt himself being lifted up from the ground and carried away, he turned his head to the side and saw a firefighter carrying him, "don't worry! You'll be fine!" the firefighter shouted, but his voice sounded distant to Tommy as he was put onto the ambulance, the last thing he saw before he finaly passed out was a doctor walking over to Kimi and looking at his assistant, with a stunned expression on his face.

"tommy…wake up asshole." A familiar voice said.

Tommy opened his eyes and looked around, he was lying on a hospital bed with an IV stuck in his arm, "what the hell…" he muttered sitting up.

"about time you woke up, they've been worried about you man." The voice said again, sending a chill up tommy's spine. Tommy turned to the sound of the voice and saw someone sitting on his window sill, smoking a cigarette, "P…Phil…" tommy muttered.

Phil turned to tommy with a big grin, "surprise asshole!" he said standing up, "decided to drop in on you, see how you were doing." He picked up the clipboard at the end of Tommy's Bed, "apparently not too good, your dead buddy.'

Tommy sat up straight "WHAT!"

Phil laughed, "Gotcha!" he said slapping his knee.

"that's not funny phil!" Tommy shouted.

"aw calm down asshole I was just having some fun." Phil said, putting down the clip board, "I'm not here to collect your soul."

"where am i? and what are you doing here?"

"well your in a hospital, thought that was apparent," Phil muttered, "and also I'm here because you have some unresolved conflicts."

"unresolved conflicts?" Tommy asked.

"yep,"Phil said, sitting down across from tommy, "you blame yourself for my death, and also you lied to Kimi but we'll get to that later."

"of course I blame myself for your death." Tommy said looking down. 'if I hadn't persuaded you to come with me you'd still be alive."

Phil shook his head, 'Na man you don't get it, you didn't force me to do it, you didn't put a gun to my head and said, 'your going to help me sell pot and take twenty percent' I came of my own accord, it was my decision."

"I was still to slow to save you from that guy."

"now you couldn't help that!" Phil said standing up, "the guy had hidden his gun, if I had known he was going to shoot I would've shot him myself."

"still…"

"tommy, you keep blaming my death on yourself then I'm going to crawl out of my grave, walk ten miles to your new apartment and slap the hell out of you," Phil said, "I'm dead, nothing can change that fact."

Tommy looked at him, "so you don't blame me?"

"hell no man, if I blamed you I would've told you before I died, oh and you gotta give your old man some slack, it's not an easy thing to let a drug dealer in your house, and for him he's been trying hard to help you."

"he didn't even tell me my mother was sick!"

"let me ask, would you have wanted to know?"

he sighed, "I wouldn't have wanted to hear it."

"Exactly," phil said, 'now give him some slack," Phil stood up and put on a thoughtful face, "alright so I covered the blame, give the old man some slack, what am I missing?" he snapped his fingers, "aw now I remember!" he turned to tommy and slapped him hard, "don't ever lie to kimi again!"

"what the hell!" Tommy shouted holding his cheek.

'look, I know you lied to her, don't say that you didn't because I know, don't you lie to that girl again, or I'm coming back and haunting your ass." Phil started walking away then turned around and slapped Tommy again.

"I get it don't lie to her!" Tommy shouted.

"actually that time was for fun," Phil said smiling, a bright light entered the room the sound of Phil's laughing filled the air and Tommy passed out again.

He seems to be coming too." A voice said as tommy opened his eyes, this time Tommy felt like his chest was on fire, "where am I?" he croaked.

"your in the hospital." A man in a white coat said, "it's about time you woke up."

"H-how long have I been out?" Tommy asked.

"about a week, you passed out when we got you into the ambulance."

The fire came back to Tommy, he sat up, "where's Kimi!" he shouted, he tried to stand up but one of his arms was handcuffed to the to the side of the bed, "what the…why am I handcuffed?"

"well you're a suspect for the fire."

"what? How could it have been me?" Tommy mumbled.

"I don't know, but they told us to keep you hand cuffed.

Tommy shook his head then asked again, "where's Kimi?"

"oh she's in the other room, she's still under, but she's going to make a full recovery, her and the baby."

Tommy looked up, "baby? What baby?"

"didn't you know? She's pregnant."


	9. the court room

Tommy stood beside Kimi's hospital bed, he put his hand carefully on her forehead, "please get better,' he said, then kissed her cheek, "for the both of us." He looked at her stomach and smiled a little. The door opened and a police officer walked in, "your time is up son." He said, "Your court room hearing is about to start."

Tommy nodded and stood up, following the cop out to the police car. He got in the back and the car started moving, "what are my charges?" Tommy asked.

"Attempted murder, arson, damage of property." The cop said.

Tommy sighed and looked out the window, _I don't think I'm getting out of this one…_ he thought. "Don't' worry you'll get out." A voice said, Tommy turned around and saw Phil sitting next to him "is this going to become a regular thing with you!" Tommy said turning around.

Phil smiled, "only when you need me bro," he said, "Now like I was saying, you are going to make it out of this, then your going to find the son of a bitch who almost killed Kimi, because he already shot Chuckie and if he keeps going he's gonna kill someone close to you, hell he already killed someone.'

"But what if the jury doesn't rule in favor of me." Tommy muttered.

"Man don't worry about it," Phil said smiling, "They ain't stupid."

Tommy looked at the cop, "how the hell is the cop not hearing you? We're like practically screaming."

"Alright number one, I'm a ghost, he can't see me, and two, this whole conversation is in your mind, like that inception shit."

Tommy looked out the window, "alright, alright fine." He turned around and Phil was gone, he sighed, _I'm going crazy, _he thought to himself, _I'm seeing dead people and having conversations with them, _the police car pulled up to the courthouse and the cop opened his door, "come on kid." He said.

Tommy got out and walked up the steps, a few reporters were right there trying to get him to talk to them, the police were struggling to keep them back, others were screaming at him, "you bastard!" one shouted, "Trying to kill an innocent child in the womb!"

Tommy got into the court with the help of the police, he walked into the court room where he saw almost everyone he knew, even his father was there, Lil stood up, "Tommy we know you didn't do it!" she said to him, "you'll get out with no problem!"

Tommy looked at her and nodded, then sat down in his seat.

"All rise for the honorable judge freeman." The bailiff said, and everyone stood up.

The judge walked out and sat down in his chair, "case 447 the people of LA vs. Tommy Pickles," the judge looked up, "Thomas pickles?" he said, "son of Stu Pickles? Now why are you here boy? Bailiff why is this kid here?"

"Arson sir, arson and attempted murder." The bailiff said.

"Boy I thought you would amount to something better then a common criminal," the judge said.

Tommy clenched his fist, "I didn't burn down that house." He growled.

"Oh really? Then who did?"

"I don't know! If I knew then I'd be going after him right now.'

"How do we know for sure? There is no way of proving your innocence." The Bailiff said.

"Actually there is." A familiar voice said, "no way…" Tommy muttered, turning around and watching Chuckie limp into the courtroom, using a walking stick to support himself.

"And who might you be?" The judge asked.

"Charles Finster, I am Mr. Pickles Lawyer." He said, 'and I can tell you that I have many ways to prove his innocence."

"Fine Mr. Finster, proceed."

Chuckie walked over, "you see, when I found out my friend was going to the court room, I went and gathered as much facts as I could about that fateful night, from what I have learned, Thomas pickles could not have been able to start that fire."

The other lawyer stood up, "Mr. Finster, is it true that you were unconscious for most of this month?'

"Yes sir it is," Chuckie said.

"Then how do you know of the event in question, an event that happened last week, and how were you able to obtain information so quickly."

He chuckled, "I awoke Saturday evening, and immediately asked to contact my friends, I was able to contact all of them except for my sister, and Mr. Pickles, whom I found out was in jail, as soon as I found out I started working on trying to get him out."

"Saturday evening?" The judge asked, "That was only two days ago."

"I work quick sir." Chuckie said, 'now, as I was saying, I talked to the people Tommy had stayed with on that day, in that entire day, not once was he alone for more then 5 minutes, in the morning from 8-12 he was with Kimi Finster, after that from 12:30-4 he was with an old friend of his named Megan Kinsley, then from 4:05-7 at night he was with his brother, after this time he was arrested after SAVING Ms. Finster from the fire, now, I really want to know how it is that he is still in chains? Because from the evidence I have collected, it is apparent that he did not burn the house down."

The judge nodded.

"He could have easily hired one of his friends to start the fire." He said.

"And which friend would that be?" Chuckie challenged, "I was in a coma, Lil and Stiles were with Kimi when it happened, and both of them almost died, and Dil was with his brother, there Is no way that any of them could have done it."

"Ms. Deville and Mr. Polaski could have done it, but being amateurs at the time would've put themselves in danger too."

"I would like to call Ms. Deville to the stand." Chuckie said, Lil stood up and walked down the aisle, sitting in the seat next to the judge, he bailiff walked over, "do you swear the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god?"

"So help me god." Lil responded.

"Now Ms. Deville, would you like to tell us what happened that night?" Chuckie asked.

"Well…we just got back from Tommy's new place, after a small mix up where…I might have thought he was…cheating…" she said turning slightly red.

"Mhmm…now what happened while you were at her house?" Chuckie asked.

"Well me and Kimi were talking in her room, and Stiles had called me downstairs, I went down and found him making food for us, he needed help carrying it up the stairs, so while I was helping him get everything together, I smelled something burning, then I heard Kimi scream, I tried to run upstairs, but the smoke was really thick by the time I got halfway up the stairs, I could barely breath."

"And what was Stiles doing at this time?" Chuckie asked.

"He was trying to pull me down the stairs to get outside, after a few minutes he was able to get me out, mostly because was close to passing out, then he tried to go back up and get Kimi but the smoke was too much for him, he tumbled back down the stairs and laid on the floor."

Chuckie nodded, "Nothing more." He walked over and sat down beside Tommy.

"Ms. Deville." the lawyer said standing up, "what were your reasons for leaving the room?"

"Stiles called me down," Lil said, "He needed some help bringing the food up."

"Now was there any one else at the house?"

"No, not at all." She said.

"Are you sure that you went down to go help Stiles and for no other reason?"

"I'm sure." Lil said.

"You sure you didn't go down to start a plan that you and your boyfriend decided to do to help Mr. Pickles over here!"

"Objection your honor," Chuckie said.

"Withdrawn." The lawyer said, "Now Ms. Deville, you said that you tried to go back upstairs to help Kimi, but why would Stiles stop you?"

"He didn't want me to get hurt." Lil said.

"But why? Why not just run up and grab Kimi and then run out?"

"I can answer that," Chuckie said standing up, "you see, the house in question, the same house I have lived in for eighteen years of my life, has three floors, the second floor is mostly guests rooms, and the third floor is the floor that contains my room, my sisters room and my parents room, so if Ms. Deville had gone all the way up and tried to come back down, she would have most likely died from smoke inhalation, with Mr. Polaski following suit quickly."

The lawyer glared at Chuckie, "withdrawn." He muttered and walked back to his desk.

"Alright Ms. Deville, you may step down." The judge said, as she walked away the judge looked at Thomas, "do to this new evidence, I have decided to drop all charges, case dismissed." He pounded the gavel

Tommy nodded to him as he stood up; the bailiff walked over and undid Tommy's cuffs.

Tommy and Chuckie walked over to Chuckie's car, "thanks for helping me out," tommy said, "didn't think I had much of a chance."

"Like I said, once I found out I had to come help." Chuckie said, then turned around and punched Tommy in the stomach.

Tommy grunted and fell, "what…the hell was that for…" He groaned.

"That was for getting my sister pregnant." Chuckie said, helping him up.

"Should have seen that coming." He muttered.

"Yes you should have." Chuckie said, "now what are you going to do?"

"Well first I'm going to find the son of a bitch who tried to kill Kimi," he said.

Chuckie nodded, and unlocked his car door, Tommy walked around to get into the passenger door when a car roared down the street, it slowed down and the window rolled down, a man in a ski mask leaned out with an AK and started firing. Tommy rolled to the side as the bullets slammed into the side of the car, Chuckie ducked down as the bullets broke through his windows.

The police ran down the steps of the court house, pulling out there guns and firing at the SUV as it sped off, "sir are you alright!" one of the cops shouted running over to Tommy and Chuckie.

Chuckie stood up, "I'm fine," he said, "though I'll need a new car."

Tommy stood up, "who the hell was that…" he muttered, "and why does he want us dead?"

Chuckie shrugged and looked at his car, "I don't know who he is but now I want you to kick his ass."

Tommy raised an eyebrow at Chuckie then turned to the cops, "I need a lift to my apartment."


	10. the final fight

Tommy paced in his apartment; in front of him were Dil, Emma, Chuckie, Stiles, and Lil, "alright so here's what we know." Tommy said, "we know this guy's got a bone to pick with us, we know that he's not scared to get dirty either, we also know his main target is either me or Chuckie." He turned to Chuckie, "do you remember who shot you?"

"No." Chuckie said, "I remember talking to Scott because he had phoned me and said he was in trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" Lil asked.

"He had gotten into something deep, had something to do with a job…I think it was dealing."

"So the killer comes in, shoot Scott, and since you had an inkling he shot you too."

Chuckie nodded.

Tommy scratched his jaw, "So all we know is that he wants us dead." Tommy said.

"Yep." Dil said, "seems like we're screwed, unless someone comes in with a file full of papers telling us who it is."

The door burst open and Megan and Wally ran in, "I know who's doing the hits!" Megan shouted, throwing a file of papers on the table.

Dil looked at Megan in disbelief and then looked at the sky, "and money shall fall from the sky!" he shouted, looking around, "Damn it…" he muttered, letting his head fall.

"Nice try." Emma whispered to him, patting him on the back.

"Wally…what are you doing here?" Tommy asked, he hadn't seen her since the Funeral, and even then he hadn't talked to her, he remembered her slapping him and walking away, but that was about it.

"My best friend is in the hospital." Wally said blankly, "of course I'm going to be here.'

"You two know each other?" Megan asked.

"Yeah, she used to be Phil's girlfriend." Tommy said.

"Oh…" Megan said.

"How do you know her Megan?"

"Uh…we…it doesn't matter." She said, "I mean…I guess it does…but… uh…"

"We met at the bar," Wally said, "started talking last week."

"Um yeah." Megan said coughing, "well…we know who's been attacking you!"

"And who is it?" Emma asked.

"McAllister." Megan said.

Tommy looked at her stunned, "w-what!" Tommy asked.

"It's McAllister." She said again, "I found out he was up to something a few weeks ago, he kept going by my job, trying to get me to join up with him in something he said 'would settle a score' of course I said no and thought the whole thing over. Then I saw him driving down the street after that little misunderstanding at your house."

"Okay, that doesn't mean he did it."

"I know, but he saw me and we stopped and talked, while we talked I saw gasoline in the passenger seat, I asked him about it and he said it was unfinished business."

"Gasoline…" Tommy muttered,

"Yeah," she said, 'and I've been following around, I remember you telling me about the mustang you shot at." She opened up the file and pulled it out, "does this ring a bell?"

Tommy looked at it, he saw the bullet hole from his gun, "that son of a bitch," he growled, "But why would he be going after me?"

"That's the one thing I don't know." Megan said, "all I know is that he's pissed, and he wants you dead."

Tommy stood up and walked into his room, "what are you doing tommy?" Chuckie asked.

Tommy came back in, loading his revolver and putting extra bullets in his pocket, "I'm going to go kill that son of a bitch." Tommy said.

"You can't do that." Chuckie said.

"Why can't I? He tried to kill Kimi!" Tommy shouted.

"I know that, but if we rush into this, and kill him, then that means the police can arrest you for murder charges."

"I don't care, I want him dead." Tommy growled.

"We all do T." Dil said, "But we can't rush into this."

"Dil and Chuckie are right Tommy," Lil said, "We need a plan."

"How about we trick him into confessing." Stiles said, "I'm sure it won't be to hard."

"And how do you propose that."

Before Stiles could elaborate Emma stood up, "I…I don't think I'm going to join in on this…" she said, "and I don't think you should either Dil."

"Why?" Dil asked.

"Because you were just jumped not too long ago," she said, "I don't think you should go out and get hurt again."

"Em I'll be fine," Dil said, "I know how to defend myself."

"And I'm sure this McAllister guy knows how to kill!" she said.

"What brought this up Em, usually you would be ready to fight." Dil asked.

"I…I just don't want you to get hurt." She said helplessly.

Dil walked over to her, "I won't get hurt." He said.

"I still don't want you to do this…" she whispered.

"And I won't."

Emma nodded and turned around, walking out.

Dil closed the door and turned to Stiles, "so what's the plan?"

* * *

Tommy sat in his Truck, waiting on Dil.

"You know he probably knows your coming." Phil's voice said, Tommy turned and saw his friend sitting in the shotgun seat, "he probably has some sort of guard too."

"I don't care," Tommy, said, "I'm killing him."

"Man what if this plan don't work, what if McAllister just shoots you?"

"Then I'll die knowing I at least got close."

Phil shook his head, "you are an idiot bro," he said, "That's why I admire you." He looked at him, "you still think your crazy huh?"

"Yep, pretty much." Tommy muttered.

Phil grinned, "don't worry, your not, just weird."

Tommy grimaced then saw Dil come out and get into the passenger side, as soon as he opened the door, Phil disappeared, "whoa…' Dil muttered, "I just felt a cold chill…"

Tommy shrugged and drove to his parents' house, "Stay in here Dil." He said and walked inside.

Stu sat in the kitchen alone, as tommy walked in he looked up, "knew you would be here sooner or later." He muttered,

"I need the key to the gun cabinets." Tommy said, "I'm going…"

"I know what your doing." Stu muttered, and pulled out a flask, taking a big drink of the contents, "thought you would be here sooner." He slid the key to him.

Tommy took it, then started walking out,

"Your mother…" Stu started, "passed while you were in a coma…"

Tommy looked at him.

Stu stood up and walked toward him, "it…it makes me realize how much you mean to me Tommy…and…and I want you to know that my door is open to you…"

Tommy looked at his father and then hugged him, "Thanks pa…" he muttered.

Stu looked at him, "Now go find that bastard that tried to kill my unborn grand baby."

* * *

McAllister sat in his home drinking wine, "is everything in place?" he asked the man sitting in front of him

"Yes sir, the guards are in place, and the hit men are about to leave." He said.

"Good, I still can't believe Thomas hasn't figured everything out yet." McAllister mused.

"You've cleaned up very good sir." He said.

McAllister nodded smiling, "well soon he'll be dead, and so will that troublesome lawyer."

The man nodded, then heard something outside, "I think someone's approaching the house sir."

"This place is a fortress captain," McAllister said laughing, "no one gets in, metal bars, guards all over the place, no one will get in."

The captain walked over to the window and watched an old truck break through the gate, it slammed into the side of the house and the doors popped opened, two men with bandana's covering their noses and mouths and sunglasses covering their eyes came out, both had a shotgun in hand and were firing on the guards, "sir…I believe no one just got in."

* * *

"Where'd you get these shotguns Tommy!" Dil shouted.

"Found them in dad's gun cabinet." Tommy said firing at the guards, taking the bewildered men out easily.

"Thank god for gun cabinets." Dil muttered.

Tommy nodded and ran over to the door, Dil quickly following, Tommy pointed at the lock and shot it off, kicking the door open as he and Dil ran in, they ran through the corridors firing at the guards they saw, tommy ran out of shot gun shells and pulled out his revolver, he fired occasionally, mostly letting Dil fire, soon they got to a private study of sorts, "you ready?" Dil asked, pulling out the pistol Tommy had given him.

Tommy checked his ammo, "I'm ready." He said and kicked the door, the two brothers charged in. Time slowed down for tommy as he fired at the few men inside, one, two, three, four men went down, he turned around in time to see Dil take down the rest, "where the hell is McAllister?" tommy muttered.

A gun shot sounded and Dil fell to the ground screaming in pain as a bullet went through his knee, Tommy turned around and saw the captain come out of a hidden room, before he could do anything else tommy shot him in the head, then he ran over to Dil.

"Tommy behind you!" Dil shouted as someone hit tommy in the back of the neck making him fall down, stunned.

"Well Thomas, it seems you are a bigger pain in the ass then I realized." McAllister growled, "not only did you slaughter my guards, but you also managed to wreck my home." He walked over to Tommy's revolver and pointed it at his head, "but I guess you won't be a pain for much longer."

Thomas looked up at him, "then do it." He growled.

McAllister thought about it then kicked Thomas in the stomach, 'How about I beat the living hell out of ya." He growled, picking up tommy and punching him repeatedly.

Dil watched with a sick feeling in his stomach, _don't do anything, it's all part of the plan._

McAllister slammed his knee into tommy's stomach and tossed him to the side, "you don't know how long I've waited for this Thomas." He said.

"Why McAllister…why do you want to kill me so bad?" Tommy groaned.

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked laughing, "I was the top dealer before you and Phil came and fucked it up, you took away the best jobs, the money that was rightfully mine, I was in the business for ten years, did you actually think that I was going to be happy, being bettered by two street rats that stuck around for two years? No, I was tired of it by your second year, I wanted nothing more then see you two dead, when Phil was shot that gave me a chance to start messing with you, I followed you, tracked you, waited for chances to get you busted, framed, anything, one was when you made enemies with Scott, I paid him to kill you, but the soft hearted idiot only roughed you up."

"Then…you killed him…" tommy muttered.

"What else could I do? He was going to go to the police after talking to a lawyer." He said, "then when your friend Lil 'disappeared' I gave a few tips to the police, of course that damn lawyer got in the way again, but no matter. Pretty soon I heard of your brother in the game, so I saw that he was roughed up good."

"You're the reason those four guy's were at the dance!" Dil shouted from where he lay.

"What you didn't think they just showed up by themselves?" McAllister said tauntingly.

"I kinda did." Dil muttered, "You don't have to be a prick about it."

McAllister looked at Tommy again, "then there was your little 'Kimi cub'" he spat on the ground, "I hated seeing you so happy," he snarled, " so when I found a chance to get her, I took it, but you saved her too."

Tommy glared at him, "your insane."

McAllister gave him a feral grin, "what does it matter to you?"

Tommy sat up and smiled, "because this entire conversation was just recorded." He said.

McAllister looked at him confused.

Tommy opened up his jacket and pointed at a wire traveling up the side of his jacket, and o a small lens on the side of his head "video recorder took this entire conversation and transferred it down the street to a friend of mine.'

* * *

Stiles sat in his Ferrari looking at the video, "I think this might get it's own movie." He said pulling out his phone and Dialing 911.

* * *

McAllister glared at him then laughed, "well at least I get to kill you." He said pointing Tommy's revolver at him and pulling the trigger, all he got was a click, McAllister quickly opened up the Cylinder, and there were no bullets in the gun.

"What do ya know." Tommy said standing up, "I got all six shots off." He ran at McAllister and punched him in the face.

McAllister fell back, "You son of a bitch," he snarled and punched tommy in the stomach, the two grappled with each other, each one trying to get the best over the other, McAllister finally got the better and was holding tommy in the air and choking him, "now I kill you Thomas!" he shouted, then a shotgun sounded and McAllister screamed in pain as his arm disappeared at the elbow, Tommy fell down gasping for air, he looked up and saw his father standing there, pumping a shotgun, "get your hands off my son." He growled.

McAllister looked up at Stu then at his stump, then back to Stu in Disbelief.

Tommy stood up and ran over to Dil helping him up, "didn't I say shoot him when he was done talking?"

"Yeah…about that I sort of lost my guns when I fell…"

Soon cops came and entered the building, the put hand cuffs on McAllister and lead him out, and Tommy and Stu helped Dil out of the mansion as police secured the house.

Dil looked around and saw Emma walking quickly towards him "Emma!" he said happily holding his arms out to her.

She walked over to him and slapped him, "you prick!" she shouted, "You scared the living hell out of me!"

"I understand that, and I would like to appolo…" he stopped as Emma kissed him and put her arms around him.

"I'm glad you're alive." She whispered.

"Well I'm glad…you're glad…that I'm alive…" he said stupidly.

Tommy left the two alone and walked towards a familiar looking Detective, "detective Sloan." He said.

"Tommy Pickles." He said, "your one crazy son of a bitch," he looked at the house, "looked into the basement of this place, turns out McAllister was planning on starting a Drug Trafficking business in LA, thanks to you, we were able to stop him."

Tommy nodded, "anything I can do to help." He looked over at McAllister, "see you in 25 to life." He said.

McAllister glared at him then did someone no one expected, he punched the man he was cuffed to and grabbed the cop's gun, he pointed it at tommy and fired,

Tommy felt two bullets go into him and fell back; he heard more gunshots and screams then fell into darkness.

* * *

"Wakey wakey asshole…" a familiar voice said, Tommy opened his eyes and he was looking at a blue sky, he sat up and looked around, he saw fields of flowers as far as he could see, green trees with birds flittering between them dotted the area.

"Well Tommy." The voice said, 'what am I going to do with you?"

Tommy stood up and looked at Phil, "I don't know." He said, and then looked around, "what is this place?"

"Half way point." He said, "From here you decide where to go. Back to earth, or move on."

"Move on?" Tommy asked confused, "are you saying I'm dead?"

"No not dead." Phil said, walking down the hill, tommy followed, "technically your still alive, but your barely alive, right now you have a choice, either you can move on, see your mother, friends who died, live in happiness, or you can go back to earth."

Tommy thought about it, "the way you say it…makes it sound like earth isn't a good place."

"Well your going to have some hell to pay when you go back down." He said, and then walked over to a pond, "Not many things to look forward to down there." He looked into the Pond, and smiled, "unless you want to look forward to this."

Tommy walked over and looked into the pond, he saw himself standing in his apartment, Kimi was sitting beside him with a small bundle in her hand, both he and Kimi were talking happily, the bundle moved and Kimi pulled the cover back to show a small baby, "That's my child…" he whispered.

"Yep." Phil said, 'healthy baby girl, she's going to be something special, I can feel it." He looked at Tommy, "of course she'll need a father."

Tommy looked into the pond and smiled, 'I'm going back Phil."

Phil smirked, "knew you would, you're not that much of a dumbass." He said, "Let me ask, are you still scared of drowning?"

"Yes, I'm still scared of that." Tommy said looking at Kimi and the baby, "why?"

Phil put a hand on his back and pushed him into the pond, Tommy fell straight through, the water rushing around him, "that's why."

* * *

Tommy woke up gasping for air. He looked around and saw the white walls of a hospital, he looked around and saw Chuckie sitting beside his bedside asleep, "Chuckie," tommy whispered hoarsely, he reached over and slapped him, "Chuckie!" he said more forcefully.

Chuckie woke up and looked around, "wha…" he looked at Tommy, "Your awake!" he said shocked.

"Yeah, I'm awake." He muttered, "How long have I been out?"

"About a month." Chuckie said, "every now and then you stirred but you never were fully awake.

"Well help me out of these IV's" he said pulling out the tubes, he put his feet over the side of the bed and tried to stand up. He stumbled and started falling until Chuckie caught him, "I got ya." Chuckie said, "where you going to in such a rush?"

"I gotta find Kimi." He said, walking wobbly towards the door, Chuckie helped him to the door.

"She's at home," he said, "resting."

Tommy opened the door and walked down the hall, a nurse ran over,"Mr. Pickles! You shouldn't be walking around."

"I don't care," he said, "I need to leave.'

"That will not do!" she said

"Look, I just woke up and I want to get some regular clothes on, get in my truck, and go to my girlfriends house to make sure she's alright, is that too much to ask?"

The nurse looked at him then went into a closet; she returned with a set of clothes with tommy's name on it, " these are yours." She said, "Go get her."

* * *

Kimi sat in her room looking at the computer, she sighed and looked at the picture of Tommy and her, a small tear came to her eye and she quickly wiped it away.

"What's a pretty girl like you doing crying?" a soft voice asked, she turned around and her eyes widened, "Tommy!" she cried and jumped up and hugged him,

Tommy put his arms around her, "Kimi…" he whispered kissing her repeatedly.

"I can't believe you're awake." She said.

"Can't stay away from you." He said, looking her over, her stomach was rounded out, he knelt down and kissed her stomach, "and how's the baby doing?'

"It's…"

"She…she is a she."

Kimi looked at him, "how do you know?"

He smiled, "a little birdy told me.'

"Well she's doing fine," she said softly, Tommy stood up, "I promise you," he said, "I will never let you out of my sight again, because I love you Kimi Finster, and nothing can change that."

Tears came to Kimi's eyes and she threw her arms around him, kissing him again, 'I love you too Tommy."

Tommy smiled everything felt right again.

* * *

**Epilogue, 5 years later**

Kimi walked into the school and into the principal's office, she saw her daughter sitting there, looking at the ground, "Cassandra, Watanabe, Pickles," Kimi said sternly, "what are you doing in the principals office again?"

"I was exploring," she said, "it was all fun, we weren't doing nothing bad, stupid teachers just didn't want us having fun was all."

"She was caught climbing under the fence and held it up for three of her friends to get out so they could go to the toy store." The principal said walking over "would've gotten away with it if Mrs. Matthews hadn't seen them."

"You mean the warden…" Cassandra muttered.

The principal rolled her eyes, "this is getting out of hand Mrs. Pickles, and this is the third time she's done this!"

"I know sir, I'll talk to her." She picked up Cassandra and walked out, "what am I going to do with you Cassandra?"

"Send me to Aunty Emma's." she said hopefully.

Kimi smirked, "no," she said putting her in her car seat and getting into her car, she looked at her daughter and at her long brown hair and her grey eyes "your too much like your father, he was always going on adventures when he was your age, and he always got caught."

"What about you mommy? What were you doing when you were my age?"

Kimi smiled, "I was going on adventures and not getting caught," she said, as she pulled down their street, she came up to their house and saw tommy's truck there, "Uh oh, daddy's home, he's going to get you in trouble."

"He wouldn't!" she squeaked, "He…would he?"

Kimi struggled trying not to laugh, "I don't know." She said, helping her daughter out of the car seat, both walked towards the door, "mommy…" she said, "if I don't make it out of here alive just know I love you."

Kimi smiled, "I love you too baby." She said and unlocked the door, Cassandra walked forward scared looking around the dark house, suddenly the lights flashed on and everyone jumped out, "SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Cassandra screamed in excitement, "you fooled me mommy!" she said gleefully.

Kimi smiled, "Happy birthday sweetie." She said, Cassandra ran into the party to go see her friends, before she could get far someone scooped her up, 'happy birthday!" Dil said.

"Uncle Dil!" she giggled.

"Can't believe your already turning five." He said, "Pretty soon you'll be in high school."

"No she won't." tommy said walking over, "she'll be my little girl forever and never go to high school, isn't that right Princess."

"Yes daddy." She said sweetly, Dil put her down she ran into the back yard where her cousins' and friends were.

"Man what are you gonna do when she's old enough to date?" Dil asked.

"She's not going to date." Tommy said quickly.

Kimi walked over, "you don't have control over that," she said, "how about when the boy comes in to meet you, you scare the hell out of him.

"That could work." Dil said smiling.

Stiles and Lil walked over, "what could work?" Lil asked.

"Scaring the living hell out of Cassandra's dates when she's old enough to have them." Dil said.

"You better." Stiles said, "Because with Tommy and Dil's track record, it's not looking too good."

Lil elbowed him in the stomach, "shut up!" she said but everyone was already laughing.

"I'm just saying, they had their kids right out of high school…I mean so did we but we waited til we were in college…sadly…" he got another elbow in his stomach.

"What about you Dil? How's Emma and Chance doing?"

"Chance is awesome, the little dude won't stop messing with things though."

Emma walked over, "he got that from his father." She said.

"And how are you doing Emma?" Kimi asked.

"I'm doing great," she said, "it's great to be back in the game."

Tommy shook his head, a little disapprovingly.

"Oh quit judging." Kimi said hitting his arm and making everyone laugh.

Cassandra ran outside, "Guy's!" she said excitedly, "lets go on an adventure!"

"I'm in!" Chance said standing up.

"Same here," Alex, (Lil and Stiles son) said standing up.

Cassandra looked at Damien, Chuckie's son, "how about you Damien?"

Damien looked at them, "Yeah sure." He said standing up, "What could go wrong?"

"Great! Then lets play mountain climb!" she said running over to a tree, "the goal is to get to the top!"

As the children started climbing the tree a man stood in front of the house, looking through the windows at them.

"Your still watching them?" a woman asked walking over.

"How can't I?" Phil asked, "I'm not leaving them here unguided." He smiled, "plus it's good to see all my old friends."

Didi smiled, "she's just like her father isn't she?" she asked looking at Cassandra.

"A little too much like her father." He said, "hard headed and stubborn, but she's sweet, just like her mother."

Cassandra was halfway up the tree her cousins were right underneath her, suddenly she stopped and looked over at the window, Phil could've sworn she was looking at him.

"Daddy." Cassandra said jumping down from the tree. "Who's that man?"

Tommy looked at the window but didn't see anyone, "who?" he asked.

"The man in the window, he looks kinda sad." She said, "You don't see him?"

Tommy looked again, "what does he look like?"

"He's massive!" she said, 'but in the good way not the fat way, and he has a cut on the side of his face, his eyes are blue, and his hair is short and brown lookin…" she looked at Lil, "he looks kind of like aunt Lil, only more guyish."

Tommy looked at the window and smiled, "he's an old friend Cassandra," he said, "just checking to make sure we're all alright."

"Well lets invite him in!" she said and ran to the front door and opening it, "Come on…in?" she whispered looking around, Phil had disappeared. "Where'd he go?"

Phil appeared on top of the house, he smiled down at her.

"Where'd he go daddy?" Cassandra asked.

"I'm sure he's around here somewhere." Tommy said, "watching over you," he looked up, _watching over us._

Kimi walked over, "come on in Cassandra, time for cake."

Okay." She said then turned to her father; "If he comes back you'll let him in right?"

"Yes I'll let him in." Tommy said smiling

"Pinkie swear?" She asked holding out a little pinkie.

"Pinkie swear."

She smiled and ran in.

Phil watched her run in, and then watched Kimi and tommy hug and go in together, "too bad I didn't stick around," he said, jumping down into the street "I would like a slice of that cake." He turned around and started walking, soon he disappeared.


	11. a thank you

**i always forget to do this, but thank you for everyone who reviewed this story and kept edging me on to finish it, you guy's are awesome, and to those who read it, i'm thankful you at least looked at it, i know not everyone likes to review, so i thank you for reading it.**


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